Abstract
This paper interrogates constraints to women participation in elective politics from the point of party structure and organization mechanism. The paper is informed by the following statistic in Nigeria: in 2003 gubernatorial elections, 2 women candidates, (out of 72 Governors and Deputy Governors) were elected as deputy Governors. The results of 2011 elections show that only 7 women were elected as senators (out of 109) and 19 as members of the House of Representative (out of 360). This is a downward trend in comparison to 2007 elections when, 9 and 23 women were elected to the Senate and House of Representative, respectively. So far, not a single woman has been elected as Governor in Nigeria. Data sources consisted of governmental documents, party constitutions, oral interviews, data from non-governmental organizations such as European Election, Observation Mission (EU EOM), and observation of party meetings, conventions and congresses. Our findings show that lack of internal party democracy; which is as a result of private ownership of political party by godfathers (political notables); and weak executive committees are responsible for poor nomination of women candidates. Within this tight control of party organization by the godfathers, party members lost their democratic rights to participation in candidate nominations, and women group are the most disadvantaged. In as much as there are serious issues of lack of internal democracy, women condition will not likely improve in political participations. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n5p202
Highlights
The literature on democracy is so vast and wide
We examined internal party structure of People Democratic Party (PDP), the influence of godfather factor in the party’s nomination of candidates and strategies of excluding women from party politics in Nigeria
Secondary evidence were obtained from party constitutions, Electoral Acts, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), publications of the Independent National Election Commission (INEC) and Enugu State Independent Election Commission (ENSEC), etc
Summary
The literature on democracy is so vast and wide. The vastness of literature has resulted to narrowing down the concept to two distinctive categories – ‘minimal’ and ‘maximal’ (Munck 2011; O’Donnell 2010; Hobson and Kurki 2011; Kitschelt et al 2010). Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) of Nigeria has been undertaking conscientious efforts at broadening voter education programme, targeting groups or citizens that might be least likely to participate, such as first time voters, minority groups and women. Despite these inclusions of gender-friendly provisions, parties hardly respect their constitutional provisions. The optimism that the return of liberal democracy will likely lead to popular participation, women participation and representation in politics are not matched with the realities on ground This is article examines the internal party nomination process and constraints against the active participation of women in Nigerian politics. We examined internal party structure of PDP, the influence of godfather factor in the party’s nomination of candidates and strategies of excluding women from party politics in Nigeria
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