A heavily armed riot police unit marches through a street in Lagos to disperse a crowd of demonstrators demanding a postponement of the December 1964 federal election.
General elections were held in Nigeria on December 30, 1964, but in some constituencies in the Eastern, Lagos and West Central regions they were not held until March 18, 1965, due to the December boycott.
During the elections, most parties operated in alliances, the Nigerian National Alliance (Northern People’s Congress, Nigerian National Democratic Party, West Central Democratic Front, Dynamic Party, Niger Delta Congress, United Front of Lagos State and Progressive Republican Party) and the United Progressive Grand Alliance (Nigeria-Cameroon National Council, Action Group, Northern Progressive Front, Kano People’s Party, Progressive Union of Northern Elements, United Congress of the Central Belt and Zamfara Municipality Party).
The result was the victory of the Northern People’s Congress, which received 162 of the 312 seats in the House of Representatives, while the ANI received a total of 198 seats. Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was re-elected as Nigeria’s prime minister, but the election was marred by rigging and violence.
