Insecurity and Voter Turnout in Governorship Elections in Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

Elections (especially Governorship elections) in Rivers State since 1999 have continued to experience declining curve of voter turnout. Therefore, this study interrogated the effect of insecurity on voter turnout in Rivers State gubernatorial elections from 1999 to 2023. The specific objectives of the study were to; examine the state of insecurity during elections and assess the impact of insecurity on the conduct of elections in Rivers State since 1999. The ‘Structural Functionalism’ theoretical framework was employed in analysing the variables (insecurity, voter turnout, and elections) contained in this work. The qualitative research design method was employed in this paper involving the use of secondary sources of data collection while graphs, charts, simple percentages and tables were used in analysing the generated data. The major research findings were that; elections in Rivers State since 1999 have been characterized by insecurity, declining level of voter turnout due to insecurity in Rivers State; and election-related insecurity is usually caused by desperate members of the political class in connivance with both the State and non-state security actors. In addressing this, the study proposed a number of recommendations including the following; establishment of election offences commission, scaling up of anti-electoral violence advocacy, de-registration of perpetuators of elections insecurity in the voters’ register, and life ban on convicts from political participation, among others.