The Importance of voter participation in Nigeria

By Sunday Adaje

Elections are a core process in a democracy, and electoral democracy is based on the assumption of full citizens’ participation in the electoral process. This is why voter turnout is one of the most critical indicators of citizens’ participation. While it is generally agreed that higher voter turnout is a vital sign of democratic development, lower turnout is usually associated with voter apathy and mistrust of the electoral political process (Solijonor, 2016: 16). Nigeria has successfully undergone two decades of uninterrupted democracy. Nevertheless, recent years have shown a trend of civilian engagement in the electoral process declining. There has been a conspicuous decline in voter turnouts in  general elections since 2003, particularly presidential and gubernatorial elections.

Citizen’s active participation in elections is one of the key measures of electoral democracy. Hence, citizen’s apathy in elections tends to undervalue the democratic process, signify mistrust in political institutions, and enthrone unaccountable leadership. Grönlund and Setälä (2004) hypothesized that measures of political legitimacy affect voter turnout, whereas citizens’ trust in political actors and satisfaction with the government may influence voters’ choice but may not have a straightforward connection with voter’s turnout during elections. One key way to improve the quality of elections in Nigeria is to increase voter turnout and boost the participation of Nigerian citizens in their own vibrant democracy. The more voters there are, the harder it is for bad actors to taint the democratic process with violence, suppression, vote-buying, or ballot box snatching.

Since the 1990s, there have been renewed interests in electoral democracy and multi-party system of democracy around the world, especially in many African countries. This saw a significant increase in the number of countries that hold regular national elections. However, what Diamond (2015) refers to as “democratic recession” appears to be taking place with voter turnout decreasing significantly in national elections in several countries. Diamond (2015: 152) argues that the continuous declining of voter turnout is one of the “signs of democratic ill-health”. Data from Nigeria's electoral umpire, The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) showed that 52.3 percent of registered voters voted in the 1999 elections. This figure rose to 69.1 per cent in 2003, but has fallen since then. In 2007, it went down to 57.4 per cent, 53.7 percent in 2011 and 43.6 percent in 2015 and 34.75 percent in the 2019 presidential election. As a matter of fact, the 34.75 per cent in 2019 is the lowest turnout in West Africa.           

Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Announced Additional New Polling Units and Nigeria’s Future Elections

By virtue of Nigeria’s constitution and INEC’s guidelines, Section 22 of the Electoral Act (2010) says each polling unit is not supposed to have more than 500 registered voters. But as more persons attained the voting age of 18 and new communities also emerged, especially in urban centers (e.g. Gwarinpa Estate – 25,000 housing units) for the past 25 years, the polling units remained the same and became heavily congested, with many of them serving up to 3,000 voters.

The history of creating and expanding polling units in Nigeria had been a long and complex exercise. However, on Wednesday 16th June, 2021 the chairman of The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu announced an additional 56,872 new Polling Units. Nigeria now has 176,846 full-fledged polling units in the 36 states and Abuja, compared to the previous 119,974 polling units. The commission’s chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this at a meeting with Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) in Abuja. According to him, after ranging consultations with stakeholders and fieldwork by our officials, the 56,872 Voting Points and Voting Point Settlements were converted and added to the existing 119,974 Polling Units.” The chairman further said “the commission has successfully removed 749 polling units from inappropriate locations to appropriate public facilities or open spaces in line with INEC policy to guarantee unencumbered access to polling units for all voters. At the meeting, he also said “Of this figure, 232 were removed from private properties, 145 royal palaces, 6 from Mosques, 21 from Churches and 9 from Shrines. The remaining 336 Polling Units were relocated for various reasons which include distance, difficult terrain, congestion, communal conflict, new settlements and general insecurity.”

The previous polling units were created 25 years ago (1996) by the defunct National Electoral Commission of Nigeria (NECON), as INEC was then known. At the time the country had on the voters’ register, about 50 million voters. The new polling units have been created out of voting points and voting point settlements which the electoral body introduced during the 2019 general elections to enhance access and the sovereignty of the voter. When the process of reviewing what was done in 1996 began, the Joint Senate and House of Representatives Committee on INEC received over 10,000 requests from 26 states of the Federation for new polling units to be created in their areas. In the end, INEC arrived at an addition of 56,872 polling units. It also consulted not just the National Assembly but groups in civil society, including the political parties and International development partners.

Conclusion

The adequacy and accessibility of polling units in terms of number and location across the country were some of the challenges that had to be addressed in the interest of credible elections and electoral democracy. Because, one of the major challenges and fundamental constraints affecting voters turnout over the years is lack of access to polling units, distance and location of polling units, overcrowding of the polling units and designation of polling units at inappropriate places like shrines, mosques, churches and private residences. From available reports, owners and occupants of such polling units ‘’inappropriate places’’ and premises have unassigned powers of control over the voting process, where integrity of the electoral process and democracy have been consistently and unfailingly undermined. With the delineations of new additional polling units and relocations/removals of polling units from ‘’inappropriate places, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has made remarkable progress in addressing these challenges that will result in increased voter’s turnout in subsequent elections.

Most importantly, the electoral umpire (INEC) must go a step further and publish the entire volumes of the designated polling units (56,872 polling units) to provide opportunities for scrutiny, review and adjustments where necessary. Transparency is crucial!

 If you are interested in learning more about Adaje’s work in Nigeria, you can find their work at the Sikika Afrika Initiative on twitter @sikika_afrk and on Facebook at Sikika Afrika/FaceBook.com

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