Ahead of the 2023 general elections in Nigeria, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has given perceived reasons for poor voter turnout, as well as potential remedies to the disenfranchisement of voters.
Speaking at a screening before the Senate Committee on INEC to confirm his second tenure, the Commission’s National Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, revealed that the failure of politicians to fulfill campaign promises has bred a culture of distrust, contributing to the steady decline in voter turnout.
Following a question posed by the committee sort to find out the reason behind the abysmal turnout in 2019, Yakubu also highlighted other factors including inadequate mobilization of voters, violence as other factors that have contributed to the issue alongside false promises from elected officials.
“Violence or threat of violence, people don’t tend to vote simply for that fear. Some people just stay on the side of caution by staying away instead of risking it by going out to vote,” he said. “Sometimes, the performance of those elected is a very important factor. Some voters will ask ‘why should I go and vote? Because four years earlier some people made the same promise so nothing has changed.”
This steady decline has shown numbers falling from the very first election in 1999 to just 34.75 per cent of registered voters casting their votes at the polls in 2019.
Over One Million Voters Failed To Vote In The Last Election
The Commission’s chairman also asked for a review of Electoral Laws to ensure a more inclusive election process that allows voters to vote anywhere regardless of where they initially registered. He said this has denied INEC staff and ad hoc ones deployed for election duties, journalists and election observers the opportunity to exercise their civic duty during elections.
“We engaged about one million ad hoc staff during the last general elections. This means that the staff and others deployed for election duties did not vote,” he said.
The Nigerian Electoral Amendment Bill is currently being deliberated on by the National Assembly with aim of instituting holistic changes to the election process.
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.
