People's Democratic Party (Nigeria)
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Template:Politics of Nigeria The People's Democratic Party is a political party in Nigeria. It handily won the elections of 1999 and 2003. It is currently the largest party in the Parliament of Nigeria. At the last legislative elections, 12 april 2003, the party won 54.5 % of popular votes and 223 out of 360 seats in the House of Representatives and 76 out of 109 seats in the Senate. Its candidate at the presidential elections of 19 april 2003, Olusegun Obasanjo was re-elected with 61.9 % of the vote.
Despite denials, and despite the fact that some of the PDP's most senior officials and office-holders are Moslems (including Nigeria's Vice-President, Alhaji Akitu Abubakar), the party draws most of its support from the predominantly Christian southern states. It polled well in the Moslem North in 1999, but lost considerable ground there in 2003, whilst at the same time strengthening its hold on the South. Hardline Moslems accuse the PDP of being a Christian party, a charge that its Moslem supporters, including Abubakar, are attempting to counteract.