The Limits of Electoralism

Abstract

With the declaration of former military ruler, General Olusegun Obasanjo, as the president-elect, the long process of choosing Nigeria’s next civilian leadership finally brought to an end what had been a veritable “transition without end.” Although the elections have been successfully concluded, serious doubts remain concerning the survival and stability of the incoming civil order. It is one thing to hold elections, but establishing an enduring democratic order is a totally different and more challenging task.On at least two grounds, the ongoing transition differed from earlier attempts. First, unlike General Ibrahim Babangida’s model of “guided transition”—in which the government formed the two political parties, wrote their manifestos, provided their funding, and appointed their officials—the current political parties were formed entirely by the political elite through the coalescence and structuring of the different political tendencies that survived General Sani Abacha’s reign of terror.