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People's Democratic Party (nigeria)




The People's Democratic Party is a centrist Political Party in Nigeria .
It handily won the elections of 1999 and 2003 . It is currently the largest party in the National Assembly . At the last Legislative Elections , held on 12 April 2003 , the party won 54.5% of the popular vote 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 on 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 Muslims (including Nigeria's Vice-President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar ), the party draws most of its support from the predominantly Christian southern States . It polled well in the Muslim North in 1999 , but lost considerable ground there in 2003 , whilst at the same time strengthening its hold on the South. Hardline Muslims accuse the PDP of being a Christian party, a charge that its Muslim supporters, including Abubakar, are attempting to counter.