WILBERFORCE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (WJSS)
ISSN: 2504 – 9232
Volume 8, No. 1, January, 2023
Pages 52-87
DOI: 10.36108/wjss/2202.80.0140
POLITICAL ALIENATION AND THE CONSOLIDATION OF DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA: A STUDY OF THE 2019 GENERAL ELECTIONS
GOD’STIME OSARIYEKEMWEN IGIEBOR
Abstract
Adequate electoral participation in a democratic setting is essential to maintain legitimacy, credibility, and stability since democracy is about popular representation. However, from available data worldwide, Nigeria’s inclusive, electoral participation is gradually but steadily on the decline. This study thus surveyed the perceptions of Nigerians on the factors influencing declining participation during elections. The study aimed among other things, to find out the reason(s) for the low turnout of voters in Nigerian elections, to investigate the nature of voter abstention and determine the relationship between alienation and voting in the Nigerian electoral process, especially, the 2019 general elections. 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 techniques were utilized to test and determine the degree of association intrinsic to the stated research questions. The findings showed that political alienation is caused by the political officials’ failure to fulfil electoral promises, electoral fraud and political violence. Consequently, it is suggested that good governance should be ensured, perpetrators of election fraud should be penalized, while incidences of violence during elections should be mitigated.
Keywords: alienation, popular representation, voting behaviour, elections, consolidation of democracy.