Abstract
Multiparty elections have become the bellwether by which all democracies are judged and the spread of these systems across Africa has been widely hailed as a sign of the continent's progress towards stability and prosperity. But such elections bring their own challenges, particularly the often intense internecine violence following disputed results. While the consequences of such violence can be profound, undermining the legitimacy of the democratic process and in some cases plunging countries into civil war or renewed dictatorship, little is known about the causes. By mapping, analyzing and comparing instances if election violence in different localities across Africa, this collection of detailed case studies sheds light on the underlying dynamics and sub-national causes behind electoral conflicts, revealing them to be the result of a complex interplay between democratization and the older, patronage-based system of Big man politics.
Highlights
There have been several cases of insecurities during elections in Nigeria as most of the elections in Nigeria are characterize by violence and intimidation of opponents, selection of aspirant is not based on merit which is creating problem to our young and nascent democracy
In addition to the above, the economic situation is not stable, there is a lot of people dying of hunger and starvation in Nigeria, this is common in the past election most people even go to the extent of thumb printing on ballot papers throughout the night when official voting has not started, this is a cardinal point of rigging an election using the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) officials to supply voting materials to top politicians in a particular area, a resident electoral commissioner of INEC do visit a big name (Politician) in its territory of jurisdiction as a mark of loyalty to pave way for smooth flow of their corrupt tendency perpetuated at the pulls
The lack of credible elections in most part has had serious and fundamental impact on democratic consolidation despite the commonality and regularity as it were in the conduct of elections in the country’s current democratic dispensation that began in 1999
Summary
There have been several cases of insecurities during elections in Nigeria as most of the elections in Nigeria are characterize by violence and intimidation of opponents, selection of aspirant is not based on merit which is creating problem to our young and nascent democracy. Election security has challenged the existence of real or latent threats to free, fair and credible elections, and has argued instead for the guarantee of the security of all stakeholders during elections (Olurode, 2013; Bawa, 2013) This orientation has given rise to a number of conceptual debates, including the changing forms of election such as electoral violence (Bawa, 2013), codification of election and the buying of votes, carting of ballot boxes, shooting and arson during elections. These insecurity triggers arising from the conduct of elections have vitiated the understanding of election as organized and systematic mode of choosing political office holders under a party label. This becomes important since democracy deepening has been often termed a missing agenda in Africa‘s democracy (Ake, 2001)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
