Digitization of Electoral Process and` Democratic Consolidation: A Case of Ekiti and Osun State, Southwest, Nigeria

Abstract

Liberal Democratic theorists have established a strong link between Democracy and Election. A high premium is thus placed on the integrity of election in the democratic project. In Nigeria, attempts at strengthening and consolidating democracy have always been frustrated by electoral fraud ranging from rigging, ballot snatching, unauthorized announcement of elections, illegal thumb-printing and most recently, vote buying. To arrest this she nanigan, the Country’s electoral rules introduced the use of Smart Card Reader as a technological innovation into the electoral process in 2015. A further step in this initiative was the introduction of the use of Bimodal Voters Accreditation System and Electronic Transmission of Result in the Electoral Act, 2022. This paper examines the use and consequences of the technology on Nigeria’s democratic future as demonstrated in the 2022 Ekiti and Osun governorship elections. It relies principally on secondary data generated from documented evidence of local and international election observers, archival materials, journals and texts. The content analyses revealed that there was effective deployment of Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) in the conduct of the two 2022 gubernatorial elections with minimal challenges in their functionality. This facilitated prompt release of the election results. Digitization and transmission of election results, if properly administered have the prospect of guaranteeing increased security of election and encouraging increased voters’ turnout as a result of perceived guarantee of electoral integrity. This portends good prospect for Nigeria’s democratic stability and institutionalization in future polls.