


































Advances in Politics and Economics 
ISSN 2576-1382 (Print) ISSN 2576-1390 (Online) 

Vol. 5, No. 3, 2022 

www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/ape 

78 
 

Original Paper 

Ritual of Electoral Democracy, Growing Political Awareness 

and the Paradox of Contagious Skepticism 

Mike Omilusi
1*

 

1
 Department of Political Science, Ekiti State University, Nigeria 

* 
Mike Omilusi, Department of Political Science, Ekiti State University, Nigeria 

 

Received: July 20, 2022       Accepted: August 21, 2022      Online Published: August 23, 2022 

doi:10.22158/ape.v5n3p78          URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/ape.v5n3p78 

 

Abstract 

As one of the pillars of democracy, election has an inescapably ritual dimension that periodically 

attracts political actors and thus, it has become a barometer to measure political behavior across 

regions of the world. Nigeria has, after two decades of uninterrupted civilian dispensation, keyed into 

this global phenomenon. Although democracy has been the world’s predominant form of government in 

the last five decades and there has been broad global progress on many aspects of this type of 

government, conducting credible and transparent elections still remains a herculean task in many 

African countries. For instance, Nigeria’s troubled elections continually reflect the country’s lingering 

“do or die” politics, poor electoral management and institutionalised impunity, defying attempts at 

entrenching democratic norms. Consequently, there is a seeming shift from voter apathy to outright 

voter boycott in the country- the 2019 election recording the lowest turnout (35 per cent) since 1999. 

This decline has been difficult to explain in the context of an electorate’s seemingly better pre-election 

activism and political engagements. Hence, why large numbers of citizens continually refuse to 

participate in this most basic civic exercise should naturally provoke agitation. Employing secondary 

sources of data collection, this paper establishes the relationship between voter turnout and 

disenchantment and other underpinning variables associated with the Nigeria’s electoral democracy. It 

foregrounds how low voter turnout remains a stubborn challenge to Nigerian democracy and the 

imperativeness for post-election audit. 

Keywords 

democracy, elections, voter apathy, political activism, contagious scepticism 

 

 

 



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1. Introduction 

In the 2019 general elections, over 55 million registered voters did not vote, marking the lowest voter 

participation since 1999 by way of percentage of actual voters against registered voters in each election 

cycle. In all, the lives of approximately 200 million people will be critically affected by the choices 

made by only 28 million voters; indicating that this category of voters is not substantially 

representative of the broader population of eligible Nigerian citizens. Yet, more than ever before, many 

Nigerian civil society groups are embarking on aggressive civic education and political mobilisation in 

the country. Many young persons, who appear to have keyed into the momentum, are daily exhibiting 

their political consciousness through the new media. In fact, modern technology seems to be a new 

incentive to broaden the scope of political participation among the Nigerian youth. In many of the party 

meetings, rallies and conventions, this category of the population dominates attendance.  

Similarly, the religious space, across all divides, dispenses messages of citizen activism and value of 

electoral participation; more reason candidates and parties seek support from them during election. The 

hype with which election timetable is received and discussed among politicians, senior citizens, 

artisans, civil servants, businessmen and women also attests to the new willingness being generated 

about Nigeria’s electoral democracy. Of recent, my field observations on election days also reveal that 

vote trading significantly draws some of the ordinarily uninterested voters out of their cocoons; an 

incredible mobilisation strategy of sort! Yet, in many of the polling centres after accreditation, an 

average of two-third of registered voters stays at home expecting results of an electoral exercise in 

which they are not participants.  

Surely, there are many factors precipitating low turnout in an election such as non-self-registered 

individuals, mistrust of the political process, ease of voting, lack of credibility of political promises, 

disenchantment, institutional factors, voter suppression or indifference. Obviously, low turnout is an 

indictment on the legitimacy of the current system or democratic legitimacy that the election ought to 

generate. Bearing in mind therefore, that turnout is a key factor in legitimizing governments, the more 

reason non-voters, especially those with a deep-seated ideological objection to voting, should not be 

dismissed as irritants or mere nonconformists because they also offer an important critique of not just 

the ruling party but also existing power structures. But why should eligible citizens discuss election 

issues, attend political rallies and meetings with so much gusto/enthusiasm, and often with seeming 

deep concern, yet fail to cast their ballots on election day? Hence, the paradox for interrogation: Why 

voter education and political consciousness are increasing, there is a decline in voter turnout. If voter 

education is not effective enough in influencing higher voter turnout, cant demonstrable political 

awareness (highlighted in the first two paragraphs) achieve that? If representation means keeping 

continuous public tabs on politicians and replacing underperformed government, what impact does low 

turnout have on democratic governance, particularly in nurturing the spirit and substance of democracy? 

Are elections mere rituals to satisfy a global consensus or meet aid conditionality for African countries? 

Is there any correlation between the abysmal voter turnout in the 2019 elections and the perceived 



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growing political awareness among the populace? Can this development enhance the legitimacy of the 

government or strengthen the social contract between the government and its citizens? 

Though not peculiar to Nigeria, voter turnout has been declining in most developed countries over 

recent decades, its breadth and depth has however, reached a worrisome level in the country. This 

paper provides insight into the political engagement and voting ritual associated with electoral 

democracy in Nigeria. It establishes the relationship between voter turnout and contagious scepticism 

and other underpinning variables associated with the Nigeria’s electoral democracy. It discusses the 

factors responsible for the change in citizens’ participation and voter behaviour in an electoral space 

characterised by low voter turnout, violence during elections, and blatant rigging. It adopts simple 

descriptive quantitative analysis of the votes cast in the 2019 general elections and pre-election political 

activities of the populace to interrogate the gap between demonstrable political awareness and turnout 

in an election and the imperativeness for post-election audit. This paper also discusses the basic 

ingredients necessary for Nigeria’s democracy to function properly: strengthening voter participation 

and interest in the electoral process; making voting a more enjoyable and community-driven experience; 

government providing fair representation and making benefits of participation equally available to all. 

 

2. Electoral participation and voting ritual: A theoretical exposition 

Generally, participation in politics manifests in various ways, ranging from engagement in formal 

political processes, such as voting in elections, to extra institutional behaviours, such as street protests 

or community meetings (Resnick & Casale, 2011). It is usually influenced by a number of factors, 

including political ideology, efficacy, structural barriers, and demographics. Electoral participation, 

which is one of the three main indicators of democratic performance (Powell, 1982), is also one of the 

most studied topics in political science and one of the most fundamental concerns of scholars and 

development practitioners. It is geared towards making governments more accountable and responsive 

to the needs of people because “voters value democracy and they recognise elections as a necessary 

element of modern democratic systems” (Birch, 2018). 

When certain groups or section of the population do not engage or participate in electoral politics, it 

poses a genuine problem to representative democracy (Tambe, 2018). However, as electoral turnout is 

declining in most democracies (Gray & Caul, 2000), much attention is being dedicated to electoral 

participation and turnout in developing countries in the last decade. Given the fact that voters are those 

who care deeply about politics, have a lot at stake, possess disposable time and resources, or receive 

utility from the act of voting itself (Riker & Ordeshook, 1968), mobilizing more citizens to the polling 

stations has become a national obligation in many countries. 

Politically, free and fair elections are an integral part of a successfully functioning democracy. The 

periodic election of governments through competitive, legitimate and transparent elections is core to 

representative democracy and “where few take part in decisions, there is little democracy; the more 

participation there is in decisions, the more democracy there is” (Verba & Nie, 1972, p. 1). The polity 



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is shaped by democracy’s insistence on regular elections, by its rhetoric of voter supremacy and elected 

leaders as servants, by imperfections and chaotic processes, and of decision making by protest and 

compromise. Elections are great secular rituals. Elections serve many purposes, being the defining 

institutions of modern democracy (Katz, 1997, p. 1). Hence, the importance of elections can also be 

found in what they are capable of deciding as rightly observed by Dalton and Gray (2003, p. 23). 

Elections are also important for what they decide. Electoral outcomes determine who manages affairs 

of government and who makes public policy. The selection of leaders and the ability to “throw the 

rascals out” at the next election are the public’s ultimate instruments of non-violent power. Political 

elites may not always act as they promise, but the selection of a government provides some popular 

control over them. Moreover, campaign debates are among the prime mechanisms for ensuring 

openness and accountability in the political process. Indeed, the competitive nature of electoral politics 

encourages citizens to discuss the policies of the government and the behaviour of potential 

policy-makers. 

Elections allow for the selection of parties, programmes and representatives and strengthen 

accountability and political control. They give legitimacy to political power, they lead to peaceful 

change in power, and they enhance political stability (Kersting, 2007). Elections are also central to 

making democracy deliver a better quality of life by linking voters’ interests to those in government 

and allowing citizens to select representatives who reflect their will. The will of the people, expressed 

through their ballots, provides the basis of authority for democratic government. These concepts are 

enshrined in Article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Universal Declaration), Article 

25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and other international human 

rights instruments. Democratic or not, all polities expect some public involvement in the political 

process, if only to obey political orders. 

Democracy, however, expects more active involvement than a nondemocratic order because democracy 

is designed to aggregate public preferences into binding collective decisions (Dalton & Klingemann, 

2011). This right to participate is a broad concept and can only be subject to reasonable restrictions that 

are provided by law. Authorities must take steps to assess and remove any barriers to the participation 

of all citizens. This includes removing barriers for traditionally marginalized populations such as ethnic, 

religious or linguistic minorities; women, youth or elderly citizens; and persons with disabilities 

(Merloe, 2009). 

Voter behaviour is highly complex, however, and social scientists have been studying it from different 

angles for many decades (Solijonov, 2016). Plummeting voter turnout across the globe is a worrying 

phenomenon. Voter turnout, which is a key indicator of the vitality of a democracy, helps measure the 

trust that citizens place in their political institutions and politicians, and shows how citizens participate 

in the governance of their country (West Africa Brief, 2019). While political scientists focus on the 

influence of political factors such as: political group, electoral campaign and the popularity of party 

leaders on voting behaviour, Sociologists seem to concentrate on the socio-economic determinants of 



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supports for political parties, observing the correlations between class, occupations, ethnicity, sex, age 

and vote. 

Elections-beginning with the preparation of electoral rolls and concluding with the declaration of 

election results- are profound events in the life of every nation, state or locality. But elections are not 

abstract instruments given the fact that they are something citizens experience as a great ritual, made up 

of smaller rituals (Orr, 2015). Elections are thus, rituals—repeated social activities full of symbolism 

and meaning. The electoral cycle sets up the seasons of politics. Social scientists have utilized 

representative surveys to understand election outcomes since the 1950s, and research has shown that a 

number of considerations play a role in shaping vote choice (Lau, Kleinberg, & Ditonto, 2018). Some 

individuals are issue voters, others are party voters, and yet another set of people focus on the 

characteristics of candidates as people (Lau, Kleinberg, & Ditonto, 2018). Though election results 

reflect the outcome and level of participation in electoral contests (Open Election Data, n.d), Burklo 

(2014) argues that the likelihood that any one person’s vote would decide an election is miniscule. 

People do not vote because they think their ballot will decide the outcome. They do so because it is a 

ritual that is meaningful for them. He explains further: 

People have lost faith not only in government, but also in corporations and churches and temples. It’s a 

vicious cycle. We vote for politicians who don’t or can’t deliver, we lose faith in the institutions they 

run badly, and then we are de-motivated to vote at all. 

Thus, those for whom elections have ceased to matter at all and those who, whether out of trust, 

contentment or ennui, just leave the system to itself (Orr, 2015). In fact, certain theorists and political 

scientists, according to Birch (2018), have recently argued that a substantial portion of the electorate is 

not sufficiently enlightened to make an informed choice at the polls, and that it is thus better for 

democracy if such voters stay at home. There are two separate components to this argument: (1) some 

citizens are not well enough informed to make sound choices, and (2) it is better for democracy if such 

voters do not exercise their franchise, as is more likely to be the case under voluntary voting laws.  

 

3. Between Growing Electoral Awareness and Decline in Voter Turnout: The 2019 Elections in 

Perspective 

In most democracies, voting is voluntary. The empirical literature shows that people value democracy 

and voting and that they believe voting is important; at the same time, many fail to vote (Birch, 2018). 

In fact, voter turnout rates and party membership rolls have been in sharp decline in the past few 

decades (Kataja, 2017). Since its return to electoral democracy in 1999, Nigeria’s elections have been 

characterized by voter apathy. Being a nascent democratic experiment two decades ago, it was thus, 

regarded as one of the usual teething challenges. However, it has been a steady decline since then in 

spite of the perceived political awareness among the populace. Since 1999, voter turnout reached a 

peak of 69% in 2003 and has then continuously declined to a record-low of 35.6 percent in 2019. While 

Nigeria’s population has nearly doubled over the past 20 years and there are about 25 million additional 



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registered voters, the absolute number of Nigerians who are voting has declined (30.2 million in 1999 

compared to 28.6 million in 2019) (West Africa Brief, 2019). 

Indeed, one of the major fallouts of the 2019 elections is the level of voter turnout. For instance, while 

over 84 million eligible Nigerian voters, a 25 percent rise from the last such vote in 2015, were 

expected at the polls, the voter turn-out only affirmed less than 40 percent of the number. Precisely, the 

overall turnout for the presidential elections was 28, 614,190 which is 35.6 percent of registered voters, 

making it the lowest of all recent elections held on the African continent, according to the data from the 

International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (cited in Ojetunde, 2019). Measured by 

voting behaviour such as voter registration and voter turnout, there has been decline both in the long 

term (1999-2015) and short term (2011-2015). The number of registered voters as a percentage of total 

population declined from 45.7% in 1999 to 38.3% in 2015. Similarly, voter turnout declined from 

52.3% in 1999 to 43.7% in 2015 (CDD, 2019). 

In 1999, out of the 57,938,945 registered voters, the total votes cast                                      

                                                                                                

                                                                                                            

            ,8                                                                                        

                             2,538,246 invalid votes. The turnout in 2003 at 69 per cent represented an 

increase of 16.8 per cent over that of 1999 (Adedigba, 2019). 

 I                                                                                                      

                                                                                                    turnout 

dropped further to 54 per cent in the 2011 presidential election. That year, there were 73,528,040 

registered voters but only 39,469,484 turned out for the poll, with 38,209,978 valid votes and 1,259,506 

invalid votes. This represented a drop of 4.36 per cent over that of 2007. The decline in voters’ 

                                                                                            

                                                                      That year, there were 28,587,564 valid 

votes and 844,519 invalid votes. The drop was 10.1 per cent (Adedigba, 2019). 

An interrogation of two states- Lagos and Rivers- readily attests to the abysmal low turnout in the 2019 

election. They are cosmopolitan states. Indeed, Lagos is the Nigeria’s most cosmopolitan state as well 

the richest state in the country, with an estimated 20 million residents. It has a total of 6,570,291 

registered voters but only 17.25 per cent (1,089,567) of the number voted in the national election 

(Adedigba, 2019). In Rivers, there are 3,215,273 registered voters but only 19.97 per cent (642,165) of 

the total registered number voted in the presidential election (Adedigba, 2019). Also, millions of 

eligible voters in Nigeria stayed away from casting their ballot to elect governors and state assembly 

members in the March 9 election (Abang, 2019). In fact, as explained above, turnout has been declining 

since the 2003 presidential election. The graph below clearly shows the percentage of voters’ turnout 

between 1999 and 2019. 

 



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Figure 1. Voters Turnout, 1999-2019 

 

The Voting Age Population (VAP), as well as the number of Registered Voters (REG) when compared 

with actual voters on Election Day can be relied upon as indicators of political participation in 

democracies. So, when measuring votes cast as a percentage of the estimated voting-age population and 

considering the above analysis, it is obvious that voter turnout in Nigeria is dismally low. Is there any 

correlation therefore, between high political awareness and voter turnout? Let me start by admitting 

that turnout may not necessarily reflect the wider health of civic engagement given the fact that 

political engagement is much more multi-dimensional. But turnout, among other factors, is a 

manifestation of civic engagement and a function of personal/group interest. Suffice to say that 

declining voting rates may be symptomatic of a democratic deficit” (Pammett & LeDuc, 2003; Nakhaie 

2006). Based on measures of people’s interest in government, current events, and political issues, 

coupled with aggressive civic education by civil society groups, interest can be developed by citizens 

around election period. This interest, or pre-election engagement, manifests in political rally attendance, 

social media activism and participation in election discussions through different forums.  

 

 

 

 



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Figure 2. 2019 Nigeria Presidential Election Results 

 

A vast literature points to education as a major driver of voting, as well as many other forms of civic 

action (Almond & Verba, 1963). In fact, it has been argued that the positive relationship between 

education and political participation is “one of the most reliable results in empirical social science” (La 

Due Lake & Huckfeldt, 1998, p. 567). In the last decade, Nigerians have demonstrated some 

appreciable level of political awareness/education in many aspects of election activities, except voting 

on Election Day. In previous elections, politicians/political parties, the electorate, and Civil Society 

Organizations made extensive use of social media as they used the social media to achieve a number of 

interrelated objectives. Most people misperceive political participation and thus only see and reduce it 



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to franchise exercise (voting during elections) (Othman et al., 2018). Political participation goes 

beyond voting on Election Day. The fundamental point however, is that statistics about voter turnout in 

the last decade in Nigeria do not justify the aphorism: “education as a major driver of voting” with the 

2019 general elections recording the lowest in two decades despite active participation in other areas of 

electioneering.  

No doubt, social media stimulates online and offline political participation among Nigerians, 

suggesting that online political activities and offline political participation could be a function of 

political awareness. The relevance of this observation among Nigerian electorate, particularly in the 

last decade, cannot be overemphasized. Within the context of our discussion in this chapter, it can be 

affirmed that a key marker of political participation in democracies is voter turnout, more so that voting 

is the most important act of a democratic society. But given the fact that citizens’ political knowledge, 

socialization and general level of trust in a country have also an impact on turnout, a single factor can 

therefore, not be used to determine political participation. Hence, citizen political awareness may be 

hampered by other variables and as such, may not translate into high turn-out in an election as 

discussed in the section below. 

 

4. Voting Behavior, Low Turnout and Contagious Skepticism in Nigeria 

Voting behaviour, which implies the factors and attitudes that govern electorates’ selection of their 

prospective representatives, seems to be a result of societal development, the influence of mobilising 

media (such as political parties and churches), individual resources (such as time and skills) and 

motivation (such as political interest and trust) (Norris, 2002). Thus, pointing to a single factor as 

causing a person’s turnout or lack of turnout would be a vast oversimplification (Harder & Krosnick, 

2008). Different explanatory models, including the sociological model, rational choice model and 

clientelism model, can be drawn from the political science literature to assess which factors influence 

how people vote in an election. In addition to this, other models of voter behaviour have been 

employed by political scientists in an attempt to explain the different motivations of voters: 

retrospective voting, prospective voting and party-line voting. 

In spite of these age-long motivations, voters’ apathy has become increasingly serious globally, 

indicative of the need to build a sustainable society with minimal voters apathy. Low turnout may 

indicate that democracy is not meeting citizens’ expectations, as earlier alluded to. Low voter turnout 

can also be seen as an indicator of low legitimacy and limited political stability. As rightly observed by 

Tucker (2004), “the lower the turnout, the greater the chance that the election result is not the outcome 

preferred by the population of potential voters. Low turnout makes it possible for minorities to defeat 

majorities”. Overtime, people become bored, alienated, or mistrustful of politicians. Usually, 

competitive races, such as the 2019 presidential election in Nigeria, encourage higher turnout because 

voters realize their votes will make a decisive difference. Ironically, the reverse is the case in Nigeria. 

As explicitly noted in the 2019 Election Factbook (2019): 



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The history of elections in Nigerian state has been characterized by threats to statehood based on the 

manipulation of ethnicity as a divisive mechanism for the acquisition of political power by political 

actors, the fragile nature of political cum democratic institutions is acquainted with poor democratic 

culture among Nigerian citizen. 

This section will focus on some of the factors precipitating abstinence from voting as observed over the 

years. One, going by previous elections since 1999, it is obvious that there are unnecessary barriers in 

the voter registration and voting process that continually prevent would-be voters from casting ballots. 

Elections must be conducted with integrity for strengthening democracy, furthering development, and 

for social and individual security. From all indications, with the prevailing government failures in 

meeting the aspirations of the people, potential voters feel alienated from government and there is a 

lack of trust in those representing them in government, coupled with the electorate’s declining 

confidence in institutions. Political parties are among the least trusted institutions in the country. 

Politicians are mostly distrusted by the people. In fact, it is likely that the largest contributing factor to 

the extremely low turnout was the feeling that whoever won, nothing would change. The system is so 

corrupt that it makes no difference whether X or Y is president. Pew Research conducted in 2018 

showed that only 39 percent of Nigerians were satisfied with their democracy, 72 percent said most 

politicians were corrupt and 57 percent said no matter who wins elections, things do not change much. 

Only 38 percent felt that elected officials cared what “ordinary people think” (Adekoya, 2019). 

As confidence and trust in politicians and public institutions progressively declined, so too has voter 

participation. Going by voter’s psychological disposition, which is measured by political efficacy, 

political interest, political trust and satisfaction with democracy, it is obvious that Nigerian voters have 

not felt any satisfaction in all these criteria. Generally speaking, political research considers political 

trust to be a prerequisite for a healthy democracy. A sense of fairness and trust in both others and 

institutions are fundamental prerequisites for democracy and participation. This is obviously absent in 

Nigeria.  

Two, politics is a high-stakes game anywhere; in Nigeria the rewards of victory are particularly high. 

The violent nature of electioneering in Nigeria entrenched in a “do-or-die” mentality remains a cogent 

dissuader for prospective voters. Do-or-die, a concept that is often invoked in popular electoral 

discourse in Nigeria to describe the distinct but alarming nature of the country’s democracy as 

exhibited in the desperation of the politicians and their supporters, is antithetical to electoral 

participation. Elections in Nigeria from 1999 to date have continued to recycle in vicious violence and 

unimaginable manipulation especially from the political elites: more than 800 people were killed in 

2011 in post-election protests in the north after Buhari’s defeat that year (Human Rights Watch, 2012). 

In 2015, more than 160 people were killed in election-related violence (European Union, 2016). Also, 

there were cases of violence in some states in the build-up to and during the 2019 elections, which may 

have hindered voters from exercising their franchise (Adedigba, 2019). Looking at the history of 

electoral violence in Nigeria, the Crisis group in its 2018 report stated that about 4,000 lives were lost 



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in elections conducted from 2006 to 2015, with casualty levels increasing in each election cycle 

(Fadesere, 2019). Due to lapses in security, challenges such as snatching of ballot boxes, destruction of 

voting materials, under age voting, inability to conduct elections in polling areas or attack on electoral 

officers in many polling units (Ajala, 2019) are regular occurrences in Nigeria. As usual, international 

attention and monitors were unable to discourage electoral violence in the country. All of this breeds 

despair in the Nigerian voter, who begins to question the logic in partaking in this quadrennial 

democratic ritual (Fadesere, 2019). 

Three, a large segment of the Nigerian electorate does not identify with any political party in terms of 

membership but they usually express sympathy for parties and candidates. One would have thought 

that such expression can translate into votes on Election Day given that turning out to vote is an 

expression of political participation and determination to make a statement through ballots. Party 

identification is typically determined by the political party that an individual most commonly supports 

(by voting or other means). In other words, those people who identify with a party tend to vote for their 

party’s candidate for various offices in high percentages. Some argue that the availability of more 

parties gives more options to voters, and thus increases their desire to vote. It is posited that people who 

identify with one of the political parties, or feel attached to them, are much more likely to vote than 

those who do not (Mortimore & Gill, 2017). Evidence in the literature suggests that political parties 

have a key role in encouraging people to turn out to vote by demonstrating it matters which party wins 

the next General Election, through making it easier for the public to discriminate between the main 

parties (Mortimore & Gill, 2017). Even when politicians of all parties recognise the seriousness of low 

turnouts in elections, little is being done by political parties to effect changes more than the usual 

jamboree during election period in Nigeria. Contrary to expectations, apart from the two dominant 

political parties in the 2019 Presidential elections, other participating 71 parties could not garner a 

million votes. 

Four, just hours before polls were scheduled to open, the country’s Independent National Electoral 

Commission postponed the vote by a week. By then, thousands of registered voters had made long 

journeys to their home districts to cast their ballots and literally could not afford to wait idle for another 

week (Ilo, 2019). Given the timing of the announcement (around 2.30 am local time), millions of 

eligible voters—especially those without access to the internet and social media—only found out when 

they woke up February 16 (Kazeem, 2019) after INEC had repeatedly told both Nigerians and 

international observers that it was fully prepared to bring off the elections according to schedule. The 

postponement of the election was met with anger and frustration among Nigerians especially as INEC’s 

late announcement suggests a lack of consideration for its impact on citizens (Kazeem, 2019). Two 

main grievances, according to Obasi (2019) feed the anger: the electoral commission had four years to 

prepare for the polls, yet failed to deliver, and it announced its decision only hours before voting was 

set to start. The rescheduling comes at great economic and psychological cost to all concerned, 



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including the electoral commission, security agencies, political parties, local and international 

observation groups and, of course, Nigeria’s 84 million voters (Obasi, 2019). 

Five, the conventional practice that requires voters to stand in queues for long hours often discourages 

voters from participating in elections (Election FactBook, 2019). Really, voting usually involves 

multiple administrative steps and waiting long hours in queues. Long lines may discourage some from 

voting, thus undermining the quality of elections as an expression of the people’s will. In fact, growing 

the apathy pool dissuades people from bothering to stand in long lines. In Nigeria where many people 

are often alienated from the largesse of democratic governance, queuing under the sun for hours to 

vote- sometimes owing to polling place inefficiency—is seen as double tragedy. With waits at polling 

places sometimes exceeding an hour, some voters do turn away as poll workers wrestle with 

malfunctioning equipment and overflow crowds. For a country as populous as Nigeria therefore, 

“seeking alternatives to the traditional waiting-in-line registration and voting system should not be an 

option but a necessity” (Obisesan, 2019). 

The effects of all these factors could be very contagious among voters. Generally, friends and 

neighbours encourage one another to go to the polls on Election Day (McClurg 2004) and people in 

social networks encourage one another to support particular candidates. Recent studies have also 

elucidated the role of social networks in spreading voting behaviour (Beck, Dalton, Greene, & 

Huckfeldt, 2002). Voters embedded in social networks of friends, family members, neighbours, and 

co-workers (Nickerson, 2008) influence each other in terms of voter turnout. Thus, taking into account 

the dynamic response of social networks to external influences, most studies consider vote choices to 

be driven by various individual’s biases and other external pressures (Braha & de Aguiar, 2017). It is 

also argued that when people are not strongly committed to a goal, seeing apathy in others triggers and 

reinforces apathy in them but when people are strongly committed to a goal, seeing apathy in others 

fuels their commitment (DiSalvo, 2016). In other words, apathy is an emotional contagion with dual 

effects. In Nigeria, many people who do not vote believe they do not understand enough about the 

government, the election process or individual party policies and they easily convince friends, 

neighbours, community associations and relatives, through their nonchalant attitudes, on the futility of 

previous ballots. Millions of people remained undecided right up to the end, and millions more were 

influenced by the prevailing apathy to simply give up. The contagious effect of this evidently 

manifested in the 2019 general elections as somewhere more than half of all eligible voters declined to 

participate in the election with implications that surpass anyone’s ability to forecast-being the lowest 

turnout in two decades. 

 

5. Pre-Election Engaged and Post-Election Enraged Voters: Stemming the Negative Trends 

An analysis of key factors that influence voter preferences since 1999 will reveal that ethnicity, religion, 

policy performance of the incumbent, economic conditions, etc., are, on varying degrees of importance, 

central to their voting pattern. More predominant however, are the primordial factors. The main reason 



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voting ritual has been unable to engender fundamentals of democracy. By implication, the outcome of 

elections in Nigeria has always been beneficial to the ruling elites and their cronies while the voters are 

left disenchanted. As earlier pointed out, one of the most important functions of elections is the 

participation of the citizens in the very process of governance. This stems from the fact that the core 

value of democracy as expressed in the fundamental definition “government by the people” emphasizes 

people’s participation in the governance process. It therefore, becomes imperative to investigate why 

people vote as they do and how they arrive at the decisions they make. 

Today, in Nigeria, the fact that electoral democracy is under stress can be measured from the voter 

behaviour, not only during elections but in post-election engagements. It also manifests in poor service 

delivery and inability to fulfil electoral promises or whether democracy has been able to address the 

challenges that people are wrestling with. Low turnout in poorly contested general elections is an 

important and well-recognized result. Then, how can participation be increased and how can the 

electorate become more representative of the greater population? There is no silver bullet for increasing 

turnout—a mix of strategies would need to be pursued, each (on their own) with incremental effects. 

As a starting point within the context of a developing country like Nigeria where the mass of the 

electorate are disenchanted, the need arises for government at all levels to make life meaningful for the 

people by fulfilling its electoral promises and engage them in decision-making process. Electoral 

reforms would help encourage participation, but so would visible improvement in governance and 

socioeconomic outcomes. Improving the electorate’s representativeness and understanding of policy 

issues is also very germane. Similarly, providing information on how well politicians and political 

parties deliver on promises can help voters make more informed decisions and can also create forums 

for engagement on political issues. This will not only create a sense of belonging among the voters but 

invigorate/activate the latent patriotism in them.  

However, for voters to make meaningful decisions, they must understand the options the polity faces. 

Citizens must have a sufficient knowledge of the workings of the political system if they intend to 

influence and control the actions of their representatives. Even turnout, as posited by Tucker (2004), 

“cannot have an immediate, strategic impact on the decision made in an election unless voters have 

meaningful choices on the ballot”. Ordinarily, in a democracy, political leaders should present elections 

as real opportunities for citizens to participate in politics and an investment into their future. Now, after 

two decades of controversy over election and voting problems, Nigerian political leadership should 

commence a post-election review to critically engage stakeholders with a view to addressing the salient 

challenges in the electoral process, particularly how to re-evaluate and overhaul INEC’s approach to 

voter registration; and general conduct of election. 

Also, there are a number of tools available for countries that intend to increase voter participation and 

expand voting opportunities for eligible voters; with the strong support of campaigns and grassroots 

organizations. These include: strengthening civics education in schools; streamlining voter registration 

with automatic voter registration and online voter registration; providing sufficient resources in 



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elections and ensure voting is accessible; investing in Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE) and outreach 

(Root & Kennedy, 2018); social pressure; same-day registration (Lemzy, 2018); customize booths to 

cater to different needs (Varinsky, 2016) 

Nigeria can capitalize on 21st century technology to automatically register voters and update their 

registration information, without any need for the outmoded bureaucracy being employed at every 

election cycle. As a matter of fact, in a report by Nonprofit Vote, it identifies Automatic Voter 

Registration (AVR), same-day registration, and vote-by-mail policies as significant enablers, if not 

motivators, of the high turnout (Ginsburg, 2019). While the American society in which the research 

was conducted is different from Nigeria’s, there is no rocket science in implementing the first two 

policies- Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) and same-day registration-in the country to encourage 

voters, because “improving the voter registration process can decrease gaps in voter participation 

between demographic groups” (Root & Kennedy, 2018). These tools have the potential to reshape and 

reinvigorate the electorate particularly when strong civics education is combined with robust integrated 

voter engagement. Around the world, countries with compulsory voting have higher voter turnout 

levels, especially when sanctions for abstention are enforced, but where voting is not mandatory, all 

other available tools should be employed. For instance, Sweden does not have compulsory voting but 

in 2018 parliamentary elections, it recorded 87% of its voting population (Timsit, 2019). 

Voting is an effective means of holding elected officials accountable for their decisions and behaviour 

in office and thus, a high turnout in fair elections gives legitimacy to public officials and their decisions, 

while abstention may erode citizens’ satisfaction and confidence. Low turnouts must be a concern for 

any democrat as they are unlikely to provide electors with representative government. It is important 

that voters are familiar with all laws and regulations governing the electoral process and the benefits 

accruable from participation. Voters should not be forced to wait in line for hours to exercise their civic 

duty and for their voice to be heard in our democracy. Nor should certain groups have less access and 

fewer opportunities to register to vote and cast ballots (Root & Kennedy, 2018). To showcase the value 

of civic engagement and improve participation in the democratic process, getting electorate to vote is as 

important, if not more, as efforts put into voter registration exercise by stakeholders. Democratic theory 

suggests there is an axiomatic relationship between high rates of voter participation and turnout and 

high levels of representation, accountability, oversight and governmental responsiveness (Fakir & 

Sarakinsky, 2019). Voters can use elections to hold governments accountable for their performance in 

office only when they meaningfully participate. Post-election engagement is also very important. More 

importantly, actors in the democratisation process should emphasise the importance of democratic 

grassroots movements targeting political reforms, and encourage interaction between civil society and 

the party system. 

Using data for over 700 elections covering 85 democracies between 1950 and 2008, Martinez and 

Trinh (2017) argued that higher turnout is often found in elections with higher electoral integrity. Also, 

in a study conducted by Birch (2010) it is revealed that perceptions of electoral integrity, and thus 



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confidence in the fairness, honesty and legitimacy of electoral procedures and outcomes, are indeed 

positively associated with propensity to vote. Her logic is straightforward: citizens will turn out to vote 

if they perceive that their vote will be counted fairly. Other studies have shown that low levels of trust 

in the integrity of elections depress voter turnout (see Martinez i Coma & Trinh, 2017; Simpser, 2012). 

Those with more faith in the process proved more willing to cast a ballot (Norris, 2012, p. 13). The link 

between electoral integrity and turnout is fundamental for the legitimacy of democracies: if the lack of 

electoral integrity damages legitimacy, it should be expected to have an impact on turnout.  

 

6. Conclusion 

As one of the pillars of democracy, election has an inescapably ritual dimension that periodically 

attracts political actors and thus, it has become a barometer to measure political behaviour across 

regions of the world. Nigeria has, after two decades of uninterrupted civilian government, keyed into 

this global phenomenon. Though issues of clientelism, religion, class and ethnicity do certainly shape 

voter perceptions in African politics, as evidenced in Nigeria’s six cycles of election since 1999, “other 

issues such as elite strategies, crosscutting cleavages, political ideology, government performance, 

opposition parties, candidates and key issues are also powerful determinants of voting intentions” 

(Mclaughlin, 2008; Basedau & Stroh, 2011). However, the dominance of primordial factors over other 

fundamental issues, in voting behaviour is worrisome in Nigeria. This paper establishes the fact that 

citizen involvement is largely propelled by different types of motivation even though voting 

motivations may not be quite so clear-cut in the multi-ethnic societies of sub-Saharan Africa; and 

non-involvement in the electoral process, particularly voting, is accentuated by divergent factors. 

Considering the fact that election provides insight into the state of the constitutive elements of 

democracy, it should be more than just a ritual in a democratic society. 

Given the nature of democracy as a trade-off which must also be accepted; it goes without saying that 

no one can have everything they want and therefore, “disappointments and slow progress must be 

tolerated in order for the entirety of the system to function” (Kataja, 2017). Though difficult to address, 

inequality must be tackled if democracy is to work in the future. The challenge for established 

democracies is to expand further the opportunities for citizens to participate and meaningfully influence 

the decisions affecting their lives. To meet this challenge means ensuring an equality of political rights 

and opportunities that will be even more difficult to guarantee with a wider variety of activities (Dalton 

& Klingemann, 2011). It is expected on a broader level, that the political leadership should build and 

sustain the institutions of governance, diversify the economy, create jobs for the burgeoning and 

youthful population, invest in the education and health of the people and reduce abject poverty in the 

country with a view to impacting positively on the living standard of the people. With these 

deliverables, the people will have cause to adduce rational basis for their current and future civic 

engagement through voting and express, through their actions, trust in political institutions. 

 



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