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Voters’ Behaviour And The 2015 General Election Process In Nigeria
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Apparently, several variables have
been adduced that may moderate voter behaviour. Researches have shown
that variables such as electoral fraud, ethnic loyalty, party
affiliation and religious affiliation have extensively affected voter
behaviour in every election held in Nigeria (Healy et al, 2010, Gomez,
2007, Miller, 2011, Parker, 2010, Valentine, et al 2010).
Nigeria's
seventeen years of uninterrupted democratic experience cannot in
any way be compared with that of United States which is over two
hundred years or with Britain over three hundred years. This is because
there are still cases of anti-democratic practices, especially
in the areas of electoral processes, rule of law and
constitutionalism (Kwasau, 2013). Also, related to this problem is the
fact that electoral malpractices often lead to legitimacy crisis which
help to erode democratic practices. Therefore this research study seeks
to investigate voters’ behaviour and the 2015 general election process
in Nigeria.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Since the country’s
return to democratic rule in 1999, transitional elections in 2003,
2007, 2011 and 2015 were won and lost under conditions in which
electoral malpractices, rigging and violence were pronounced, a
phenomenon described by Dauda as “The Slippery side of landslide†(Dauda
2007:102). Participation in Elections in Nigeria is characterized by
electoral fraud, ethnic loyalty, party affiliation and religious
affiliation. Under such circumstances, elections give rise to the
primitive accumulation of votes, which means winning of votes by
both objective and structural violence and disregard for the
rule of law. In this kind of environment, there is usually sustained
rigging which ensures that votes do not count and voters are not counted
leading to the lack of electoral credibility.
Consolidating
democracy in Nigeria as a whole through the conduct of credible
elections has remained an albatross. The history of Nigeria’s democratic
experiments demonstrates that elections and electoral politics have
generated so much animosity which has, in some cases, threatened the
corporate existence of the country (such as happened after the annulment
of the June 12, 1993 presidential election) and in other cases
instigated military incursion in to political governance, most notably
in 1966 and 1983.
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ABSRACT - [ Total Page(s): 1 ]Nigeria is one of the most ethnicallyand religiously diverse country in Africa, and over time ethnic and religious considerationshave been built into the electoral system itself. These factors were overly observed in the 2015 general elections, Monitor (2015)reports that on a geo-political zone basis, the South-Southhad the greatest voter turnout with 59% closely followed bythe North-West with 54%. The South-West had the lowestturnout in the country with just 37%. This study investigated voters ... Continue reading---
