POLITICAL PARTIES AND INTERNAL DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA: AN ASSESSMENT OF CONGRESS FOR PROGRESSIVE CHANGE (CPC) IN KATSINA STATE, 2009-2012

POLITICAL PARTIES AND INTERNAL DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA: AN ASSESSMENT OF CONGRESS FOR PROGRESSIVE CHANGE (CPC) IN KATSINA STATE, 2009-2012

Abstract:

The Study examined internal democracy in the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in Katsina State from 2009 to 2012. In the course of this study data was sourced from two major sources; the Secondary and the Primary Sources. The Secondary sources were from existing literature on Party Politics and Intra-party democracy while Interview method was adopted as the main primary source of data in this study to generate data from the selected key informants within the Party both at the National and State levels. In addition, qualitative method of analysis was adopted to present and analyze data based on the objectives of the study, within the theoretical framework of Elite theory particularly the Iron law of oligarchy developed by Roberto Michel. The Study conclude that the party in the study area did not employ democratic principles in its activities as members were not fully included in the affairs of the party especially regarding the issue of candidate selection during the primaries and agenda setting within the party. The study recommends that the current Electoral Act 2010 (as amended) must be reviewed to incorporate the deleted provision of section 87(9) of the repeal Electoral Act 2010, which provides that “where a political party fails to comply with the provision of this Act in the conduct of its primaries, its candidates for election shall not be included in the election for the particular position in issue. With such provision in place, the Electoral Commission will be able to enforce compliance with internal democratic mechanisms as provided for by the Electoral Act, and also strengthen the Commission’s supervisory role under Sec 85(2) of the Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).

POLITICAL PARTIES AND INTERNAL DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA: AN ASSESSMENT OF CONGRESS FOR PROGRESSIVE CHANGE (CPC) IN KATSINA STATE, 2009-2012