Parliamentary elections were held in Nigeria on 7 July 1979 for the first time since 1964 to elect a Senate and House of Representatives on 14 July. The result was a victory for the National Party of Nigeria, which won 36 of the 95 Senate seats and 168 of the 449 House seats.[1] It formed a coalition with the Nigerian People's Party in order to gain a majority.[2] Voter turnout was just 30.7% in the House election.[3]
Electoral system
editMembers of both houses were elected using the single-member plurality electoral system. Each State was divided into five districts, each of which elected a Senator. Each State was also allocated a number of seats in the House of Representatives based on its proportion of the population.[4]
Results
editSenate
edit| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Party of Nigeria | 4,032,329 | 32.75 | 36 | |
| Unity Party of Nigeria | 2,835,362 | 23.03 | 28 | |
| Nigerian People's Party | 2,145,859 | 17.43 | 16 | |
| Great Nigeria People's Party | 1,847,019 | 15.00 | 8 | |
| People's Redemption Party | 1,453,538 | 11.80 | 7 | |
| Total | 12,314,107 | 100.00 | 95 | |
| Total votes | 12,532,195 | – | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 48,633,782 | 25.77 | ||
| Source: Nohlen et al. | ||||
Results by state
edit| State | NPN | UPN | NPP | GNPP | PRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anambra | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Bauchi | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bendel | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Benue | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Borno | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Cross River | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Gongola | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Imo | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| Kaduna | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Kano | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Kwara | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Lagos | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Niger | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ogun | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ondo | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oyo | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Plateau | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Rivers | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Sokoto | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Source: Oyediran | |||||
House of Representatives
edit| Party | Votes | % | Seats | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Party of Nigeria | 5,325,680 | 35.6 | 168 | |
| Unity Party of Nigeria | 3,691,553 | 24.6 | 111 | |
| Nigerian People's Party | 2,391,279 | 16.0 | 78 | |
| People's Redemption Party | 49 | |||
| Great Nigeria People's Party | 43 | |||
| Total | 449 | |||
| Total votes | 14,941,555 | – | ||
| Registered voters/turnout | 48,633,782 | 30.72 | ||
| Source: Nohlen et al. | ||||
By state
edit| State | NPN | UPN | NPP | GNPP | PRP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anambra | 3 | 0 | 26 | 0 | 0 |
| Bauchi | 18 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Bendel | 6 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Benue | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Borno | 2 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| Cross River | 22 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Gongola | 5 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| Imo | 2 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 0 |
| Kaduna | 19 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 10 |
| Kano | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 39 |
| Kwara | 8 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Lagos | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Niger | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ogun | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ondo | 0 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oyo | 4 | 38 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Plateau | 3 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| Rivers | 10 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Sokoto | 31 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Source: Oyediran | |||||
References
edit- ^ Elections in Nigeria African Elections Database
- ^ Nigeria Inter-Parliamentary Union
- ^ Dieter Nohlen, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) Elections in Africa: A data handbook, p707 ISBN 0-19-829645-2
- ^ Oyediran, Oyeleye (1981). The Nigerian 1979 elections. Illupeju, Lagos: Macmillan Nigeria. ISBN 0333317858.