The Impact of New Media Technology on Electoral Victory: Focus on 2015 General Election in Nigeria

Chukwuemeka Okafor,Sunday Maduka Agu

doi:10.33094/26410249.2019.11.1.10

Chukwuemeka Okafor, Sunday Maduka Agu

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.33094/26410249.2019.11.1.10

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Abstract

Election is a process of selecting people to hold political offices and authority on behalf of the electorate. It is a very important aspect of every democratic process. The 2015 general election in Nigeria was very unique. It proved wrong all predictions of recording high rate of violence and lack of free and fairness. The electoral outcome defiled all these predictions and created a new landmark that has never been recorded in the history of elections in Nigeria. For the first time, there was high rate of youth involvement and political participation and the incumbent president was defeated despite huge propaganda and scandals that trailed the opposition. An uptight and laid back analogue opposition presidential candidate defeated a more vibrant and very amiable incumbent in an election adjudged to be free and fair. This paper seeks to investigate what actually happened and what informed the drastic change of attitude of young people in the electoral process. Descriptive and documentary methods were used in data collection and analysis. The findings show that new media technology is a very potent tool of mass communication and mass mobilization which cannot be overlooked in ensuring that citizens participate effectively and efficiently in the democratic process. The paper recommends the effective use of new media technology by politicians and political parties as a tool to enhance political mobilization for electoral victories.

Highlights

An election is described as a process that gives the members of an organisation or a community the latitude to choose representatives that will hold elective offices on their behalf (Oji, 1997:98)
The responsibility of organising general elections rests with the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) and The Electoral Act guides the conduct of these elections
The Electoral Act specifies how elections are administered, determines the boundaries and rules for selecting candidates that will stand for elections by political parties

Summary

Introduction

An election is described as a process that gives the members of an organisation or a community the latitude to choose representatives that will hold elective offices on their behalf (Oji, 1997:98). The new media created opportunities for the young people on whom the 2015 elections were anchored especially by the opposition party to get involved in the electoral process. Prospects and Challenges of the New Media Technology The use of new media in politics includes the use of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, What’s app, we chat and Instagram etc These new media platforms have dramatically changed the face and approaches to elections and electioneering campaigns and how the electorate interact with the politicians. Before the final result of the 2015 presidential election in Nigeria were announced, most people already knew who won the election as comments on the outcome of the election at various polling stations were posted on the new media platforms This process was very transparent and reliable as the information was relayed first hand and as they occurred. People live on the internet the same way they live in the society and an average internet user touches his device once in every ten minutes, which is more often than one touches any other device (Joseph Pulitzer 2016:12)

Major Advantages of the New Media Technology These include the following:

Findings

Conclusion