The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has lost control of the political firmament in the South East geo political zone.
Since 1999 democracy returned to the country, the South East has been the political back bone of the party producing five State Governors, many Senators and majority of members of the House of Representatives.
However, all that has changed. The party was severely bruised in the just concluded Presidential and National Assembly elections held on February 25, 2023.
With available records to INNONEWS, the PDP won no senatorial seat in the zone.
Governors Of Enugu and Abia States, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi and Okezie Ikpeazu, who ran for Senate on the platform of the party lost to candidates of the Labour Party.
The Labour Party, LP and the All Progressives Congress, APC, thus far, have won 13 of the 15 senatorial seats in the zone.
In the House of Representatives, the party won only six seats in the zone,though supplementary or re run elections are yet to hold in four Federal Constituencies in the zone.
The PDP won three House of Reps seats in Imo, one in Enugu, Ebonyi and Enugu States.It won no seat in Anambra State.
The Labour Party won six Reps seats in Abia and Anambra States each, a whopping seven seats in Enugu State, two in Imo State and one in Ebonyi State.
The APC trails, though badly, winning only three seats each in Ebonyi and Imo States, with no seats in Abia, Enugu and Anambra States.
Political analysts contend that the Labour party did not only fatally erode the support base of the PDP in the South East, it also weakened the APC in the region.
Ernest Akujor, a political analyst based in Owerri, told this newspaper that the Labour party has changed the political configuration of the South East.
“The LP has reshaped the political map of the South East. And the PDP has been badly affected by this development, because the zone before now was it’s strongest support base in the country.
“However, the APC can say that the 2023 elections is it’s best outing since the formation of the party in 2014, because this is the first time it is producing six Senators at a time from the zone.
A chieftain of the PDP in Imo State, Ben Meregini, said the LP is a flash in the pan, because it’s recent stronghold in the South East is temporary and would not stand the test of time.
“The LP will fizzle away like APGA. The LP is like a regional political party because it’s strong base is only in the South East.
“Regional political parties have never augured well for the South East, because it has taken us to nowhere” he stated.
