Political Alienation and Electoral Participation in Nigeria’s Democratization Process: A Survey of Voter Behaviour in the 2019 General

Abstract

The study aimed to ascertain the reasons, nature and implication of voter abstention in Nigeria’s democratization process. The study posits that low voter turnout in Nigerian elections could be attributable to alienation and thus, sought to test the relationship between alienation and electoral participation focusing on the 2019 general elections. The study adopted the expo-facto research design. A sample of 1,200 respondents was chosen from the selected local government areas of the six zones using the stratified random sampling technique. The simple percentages and Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient statistical technique were used to test and determine the degree of association intrinsic to the stated hypotheses. The findings from the study showed that the failure of elected political officers to fulfil electoral promises, electoral fraud, and violence, are responsible for voter alienation in Nigeria. Therefore, the study suggested that elected political officials should ensure good governance based on meeting the needs of the citizenry; fraudulent practices during elections should be penalized with appropriate sanctions and the governments at all levels should put on modalities to mitigate the incidences of violence during elections.