THE IMPACT OF ELECTION ADMINISTRATION ON NIGERIAN DEMOCRACY
THE IMPACT OF ELECTION ADMINISTRATION ON NIGERIAN DEMOCRACY
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2012-12
Authors
MOVEH, David Omeiza
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
This study evaluates INEC’s conduct of Presidential elections in Nigeria from
1999-2011; with a view to determining the implications of the institutional
context of INEC for the sustainability of democracy in the country. The study
is conducted against the backdrop of the fact that all general elections
conducted in Nigeria have generated controversy; supposedly arising from
structural dependence and institutional inadequacies and deficiencies in the
electoral administration system. The liberal theory of democracy is adopted as
the theoretical framework of the study; specifically due to the fact that of all
theories of democracy only the liberal version emphasizes a direct linkage
between the quality of the election administration process and the qualification
of a regime as democratic. The study identified four potential outcomes as
assumptions of the study. First, is that a progressive increase in the quality of
the 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 Presidential elections would imply that INEC
has sustained (stabilized) Nigeria’s democracy. Secondly, a continuous
retrogression in the quality of the 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 Presidential
elections would imply that Nigeria’s democracy is diminishing. Thirdly,
constancy in the quality of the of the four Presidential elections will imply that
Nigeria’s democracy is static, and fourthly, a lack of any general trend as in
assumption 1-3 will imply that Nigeria democracy is unstable. Questionnaires;
were utilized as the main primary source of data. Focused Group Discussion
and interviews of a sample of the major stakeholders in the election
administration process as well as Documentary evidence were however used to
supplement the data from the questionnaires. The data gathered were analyzed
based on Elklit and Reynolds’s model for the analysis of electoral management
bodies and election administration; which builds on a close scrutiny of the
election administration system’s performance through clearly defined stages of
the electoral process. Findings indicate that while from 1999, through 2003 to
the 2007 Presidential elections, there was a progressive decline in the quality
of the Presidential elections conducted by INEC with a total rating of 57.6%,
54.25% and 50.16% respectively; the 2011 Presidential elections had a much
higher quality with an unprecedented rating of 69.65%. This lack of any
general trend in the quality the Presidential elections conducted by INEC
within the time frame of the study indicated that only the fourth assumption of
the study is valid. Furthermore, a regression analysis of the four Presidential
elections indicates that of all the functions performed by INEC, a total of seven
functions significantly influenced the outcome of the elections. These are
sufficiency of resources, complimentarity of voter education efforts by various
groups, functionality of voter registration complaints procedures, acceptability
of ballot paper design to parties and candidates, security of polling stations,
promptness of vote count and promptness in the handling of election related
disputes.
Description
A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE
POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
NIGERIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD
OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN
POLITICAL SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE,
FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY,
ZARIA
JUNE, 2012