Nigeria’s PDP, Opposition Parties Tied for Support in Survey
Nigeria’s ruling party and its main opposition challenger are tied at 42 percent of support among likely voters next month, in what could be the nation’s closest presidential election, according to a survey by Afrobarometer.
“Support for the opposition is at the highest level recorded since Afrobarometer surveys began in Nigeria in 2000, and the challengers are set to make their strongest showing since the restoration of multi-party elections in 1990,” the research group said on Tuesday in a statement. The outcome “is too close to call,” according to Afrobarometer.
President Goodluck Jonathan, of the People’s Democratic Party which has been in power in Africa’s biggest oil producer since 1999, will stand against All Progressives Congress candidate Muhammadu Buhari in an election set for Feb. 14.
Jonathan’s approval rating was at 40 percent in 2014, down from 49 percent in 2012, with 59 percent of respondents saying they disapprove or strongly disapprove of his performance over the past 12 months. The survey of 2,400 adult Nigerians conducted in December also found 74 percent of people believed the country is heading in the wrong direction, up from 70 percent in 2012. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.
Presidential candidates will need at least 50 percent of the vote, as well as more than a quarter of ballots cast in two-thirds of the country’s states, to avoid a run-off.
Jonathan’s government is struggling to deal with an increasingly powerful Islamist Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast, and the falling price of oil, which brings in about 70 percent of government income.
Afrobarometer is funded by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, among others.
