2011 Nigeria National Elections
4
I
NTRODUCTION
In April 2011, the Federal Republic of Nigeria held national elections: national assembly elections
were held on Saturday, April 9; the presidential election was held on Saturday, April 16; and
gubernatorial and state assembly elections were held on Tuesday, April 26.
1
Acting President
Goodluck Jonathan of the PDP won the presidential race with 59.6 percent of the vote, together
with his vice-presidential candidate and acting vice-president, Mohammed Sambo, also of the PDP.
Opposition candidate, Muhammadu Buhari, of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), came in
second with 32 percent. Officially, 39,469,484 Nigerian voters (representing 53.7 percent of
registered voters) turned out for the presidential election on April 16. With respect to the national
assembly elections, Nigerians voted in 74 races for the Senate (out of a total of 109 senate seats) and
234 races for the House of Representatives (out of a total of 360 seats)
2
; turnout in the national
assembly elections was approximately 29 percent of total registered voters. At the state level, 26 of
Nigeria's 36 states held gubernatorial elections. While turnouts varied considerably between the
three voting days,
it "dropped to near or below one-third of
registered voters" for the gubernatorial elections.
The 2011 elections marked the fourth national electoral cycle in Nigeria since its 1999 transition
from military rule to democracy. As stipulated by the Nigerian constitution, elections were originally
scheduled for January 2011. However, this timeframe became unrealistic and jeopardized the
potential for credible elections. The election schedule was thus postponed until April 2011. (For
more detailed analysis of the elections' postponement, see the Pre-Election Environment, Date of
Elections section, p. 11). The April electoral calendar originally had the elections scheduled as
follows: national assembly elections on April 2; presidential election on April 9; and gubernatorial
and state assembly elections on April 16. On April 2, INEC called off the elections, citing pervasive
logistical delays. Although this last-minute postponement created a moment of intense uncertainty,
INEC managed to quickly restore order and confidence, and the electoral cycle was re-initiated on
April 9.
Overall, Nigeria's 2011 elections were an improvement over the flawed elections of 2007. As IRI
stated in its
the presidential election was "orderly and transparent."
IRI noted several major improvements compared to Nigeria's previous elections, particularly in the
overall integrity of the process, the professionalism and independence of INEC, and the more
positive role played by Nigerian security forces. IRI also witnessed an increase in the level of fair
and legitimate competition between the candidates and political parties. In particular, opposition
parties made visible gains and increased their degree of representation in government in the national
assembly and state-level elections.
Although it was relatively peaceful on the day of the presidential election, the situation changed
dramatically following the INEC announcement that President Jonathan, a Christian from the south,
had defeated Muhammadu Buhari, a Muslim from the north, by a 27 percent margin. In Kano,
Kaduna, and 10 other northern states, heavy violence broke out between supporters of the two
candidates, and between Christians and Muslims.
the violence
1
For security reasons, two states, Kaduna and Bauchi, held their gubernatorial and state assembly elections two days
later on Thursday, April 28, 2011.
2
Fifteen Senate and 48 House of Representatives races were rescheduled for April 26 due to misprinted ballots.
