THE NIGERIAN ELECTIONS Fron a Lagos Correspondent.
Preparations for the scheduled December elections in Nigeria are occurrin: in a tense social and political atmosphere, The general strike last June wes a very important event in the life of the country and it left a deep impression. The hostility of the masses towards the ruling layers is generally shown quite openly and the governnent is turning more and nore oyenly toward outright police methods, above all against trade union militants and menbers of the political vanguard.
Since the 1959 elections, the political scene has changed. New parties have been formed, srlits have taken place; and it is possible that shifts registered on 2 regional level and certain groupings will find a reflection on the electoral plane. It goes without saying that despite an agreement to conduct the elections honestly, there is not the slightest chance of preventing trickery and frauds - including, of course, the use of police pressure. This is all the more likely since various parties dominate the aifferent regions and each one will try to liquicate the opposition in its own territory. It is sufficient to note in this connection the manipulation of population figures for electoral purposes in the various regions. The cexsus of 1952-53 rut the number of inhabitants in the country at 31M; the most recent estimates listed 40M; but now the total is claimed to be 55M!!I
The aspect that appears nost paradoxical in the elections is that the two parties which have collaboratec in the fedcral governnent - the N.P.C. (Northern Peoples Congress) and the N.C.N.C. (National Convention of Nigerian Citizens)- head two opposing electoral blocks. The N.C.N.C. is a front with the &£.G. (Action Group) in addition to the N.E.P.U. (Northern Elements Progressive Union) to which it was already allied in 1959. The Action Grour, “which retains greater popularity than the sther big parties, held a wider distribution of seats on a national scale in 1959 but it was excluded from the federal government and later also fron the western region which it controlled for a time. Its lesacer Obafemi Awolowo remains in prison under a very heavy sentence (even if a little paradoxically the main street in the Federal Territory continues to carry his name).
Against the N.C.N.C. - &4.G. - N.E.P.U. block, which has taken the name (United Progressive Grand Alliance), stands the N.N.A. (Nigerian National Allience) which includes the reactionary conservatives of the N.P.C. - which dominate the North and head the Federal government - and the N.N.D.P. (Nigerian National Democratic Party) which was formed after a split last March from the A.G. Another participant in the N.N.A. block is the D.P. (Dynanic Party), which clains to be socislistic but which includes dangerous elements, even fascist types.
Candidates will be entéred by the S.W.A.P.P. (Socialist Workers an@ Farmers Party) a Khruschevist crouring which.is running under its own banner after being turned down on its offer for an alliance with the AG and UPGA. The young Nigerian Labour Party, founded by the former left wing of the SWAPP has decided to run trade union leader M.A.O. Imoudo in Lagos, despite its recent constitution and practical difficulties. It may run a few others in another region.