VOTERS’ PARTICIPATION AND DEMOCRATIC CONSOLIDATION IN NIGERIA: AN ANALYSIS OF 2011-2019 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

Adewumi Eyitayo (PhD), Babatunde Olayinka Adebogun

Abstract


The Nigeria’s fourth Republic bequeathed on the adult citizens the representative democracy in 1999. Since this period, six presidential elections have been conducted. The indices for democratic consolidation have been marred by different challenges. Evidence have shown that citizen’s participation in election has reduced drastically due to limited choices or lack of qualified candidates to fix this these challenges. It is against this backdrop that this study examined voter participation and democratic consolidation in Nigeria with specific focus on 2011-2019 presidential elections.

This study adopted a descriptive survey research design using qualitative method. The population for this study consisted of the eligible voters who resided in the study area of Lagos and Anambra State which were selected purposively for this study. Instrument used for this study was an interview guide questions. A total of 14 interviews were conducted among academicians, INEC Officials, Civil society organization, and politicians. The interviewees’   responses of the primary data were thematically discussed and content analysed.

Findings from this study depict that there are several factors that influence voters’ choice and that vote buying is a common phenomenon that majorly affect voters’ choice alongside ethnicity, political parties’ affiliation and religion and there have been variation and fluctuation in voters’ turnout across different states and geo-political zones of Nigeria.

The study concluded that voters’ participation has a significant relationship with democratic consolidation in Nigeria. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that government should fulfil their electoral promises made during campaign and there should be politically enlightened citizens as this may not influenced vote buying when choosing leaders in elections in Nigeria

Keywords


Democratic consolidation, Presidential election, Good governance, Voters participation, Voters turnout.

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