After what seemed like a never-ending vote-counting period, the United States 2020 presidential elections might be over. While the outgoing president and Republican candidate, Donald Trump, has filed suits aimed at overturning the results of the polls, this historic election offers the electorate in Nigeria with useful lessons ahead of the country’s 2023 general elections.
A More Inclusive Election
A landmark moment heading towards the November 3rd polls was the announcement of Kamala Harris, a senator representing Oakland, California, as the official running mate of Democratic candidate, Joe Biden. Providing an opportunity for representation to be afforded to not just women, but black women specifically, this choice signalled hope to the racially diverse melting pot that is America. This hope eventually became reality with Senator Harris making history as the first female Vice-President-Elect of the United States. The election also saw Nigerian-Americans secure seats in parliament, showing a more inclusive election across race, sex and religion.
As Nigeria prepares for the 2023 general elections, candidates need to be reflective of a more diverse Nigeria by encouraging more women and young people to secure seats at the proverbial table. Despite the Not Too Young To Run bill, there is still a visible wall obstructing youth participation. Women also experience a similar issue with access to key political positions and roles.
Election Coordination
While America has been conducting elections long before Nigeria made its first foray into the democratic channel, conducting an election while managing an ongoing global pandemic posed challenges of its own.
Rising to the occasion, the American electorate – decentralized, unlike Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) – doubled up on methods that would ensure massive voter participation, but minimize the risk of infections.
With this in mind, mail-in-ballots became the unsung hero of the electoral process allowing voters to vote from the comfort of their homes. With voting officially kicking off early, the entire voting process lasted for weeks in comparison to the cutthroat Nigerian in-person election process that lasts for just one day. The combination of the mail-in-vote system and an extended voting period resulted in a record-breaking voter turnout for America.
As Nigeria continues to struggle with a constant decrease in voter turnout, it is imperative that new methods aimed at making the voting process less tedious, be adopted moving forward.
Joe Biden of the Democratic Party was declared the winner after securing 290 Electoral College votes against Trump’s 214 votes. Biden received 74. 9 million or 50.6 per cent votes while Trump had 70.6 million or 47.7 per cent of the total number of votes.
This story is part of our new series on Nigeria where we analyse electoral and political reform in the country ahead of the next general elections in 2023.
