For almost twenty years, the five states in the south-east, Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Imo and Ebonyi have been strongholds of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The geopolitical zone used to be under the full control of the PDP, including most of the National Assembly seats but the February 25 election is the first since 1999 that the PDP didn't win more seats than any other party in the south-east.
In fact, the narrative has changed for those who believed that PDP's dominance in the south-east would continue for a longer time. The meteoric rise of the Labour Party (LP) propelled by the Peter Obi movement almost swept the PDP into political oblivion in the south-east in the just concluded national assembly elections.
According to the results published by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), only seven members of the PDP got elected to the 10th national assembly – six in the house of representatives and one senator. In other words, the PDP has just seven lawmakers out of 58 national assembly seats in the south-east.
Meanwhile, in 2019, 41 lawmakers – 31 in the lower legislative chamber and 10 in the red chamber – were elected on PDP's platform in the zone, although some later defected to other political parties.
HAS LABOUR PARTY REPLACED PDP IN SOUTH-EAST?
In February, the PDP suffered a heavy blow in the south-east, not from the All Progressives Congress (APC) that began ruling at the centre in 2015, but from a political party which before now didn't harvest any significant victory during elections in the zone.
The LP got a total of 25 national assembly seats in the February 25 elections – 20 in the house of representatives and five in the senate.
The APC had 13 elected members – six senators and seven reps-elect.
Although INEC is scheduled to conduct a supplementary election to fill five seats, all indications show the PDP still may not be able to hold significant control of the south-east, even if it wins all.
BREAKDOWN OF THE ELECTED MEMBERS
In Abia, the PDP won only one house of representatives seat. The party did not secure any senate seat. LP picked six house of representatives seats, while APC got one.
In the upper legislative chamber, APC, LP and APGA got one seat each.
Okezie kpeazu, the PDP governor of the state who contested the Abia south senatorial district election, was defeated by Enyinnaya Abaribe of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA).
LP won two house of representatives seats in Imo, while PDP and APC got three each. Two seats are yet to be filled as the electoral umpire will conduct a supplementary election in the two federal constituencies.
