VOTE TRADING IN NIGERIA POLITICS
Abstract
Vote buying is a common phenomenon in Nigeria’s political system that has caused havoc to the country’s electoral system. Vote buying as a practice was well noticed in 1999 when Nigeria started experiencing a smooth and successful transition of government from one civilian administration to another. However, the alarming rate at which vote trading is growing in Nigeria has called for serious attention particularly during 2015 and 2019 general elections in the country. Although, government had made series of efforts to curb the menace such as amendment in the Electoral Act, review of electoral laws and regulations, but all to no avail. The study deduces that those that were targeted for vote buying are majorly the illiterates and the poor masses in the country who can be easily influenced and induced with small amount of money. The study also showcase some evils behind engaging in vote buying which is capable of exposing the society to the inability to produce credible candidates. Similarly, vote trading could lead to underdevelopment and poor economy in a country. The study makes use of bilateral bargaining and clientelist theories to illustrate the offer and acceptance agreements between the political parties and voters. This study is a qualitative that adopts both primary and secondary sources of data to examine issues surrounding vote trading in Nigeria and its effect on the generality.
Keywords: Elections, Vote Buying, Democracy, Campaign Promises, Nigeria
References
Adetula, V.A.O. (2008). Electoral Act 2006, Civil Society Engagement and the Prospect of Political Finance Reform in Nigeria. In Adetula, V.A.O. (ed) Money and Politics in Nigeria (Pp. 13-28). International Foundation for Electoral System (IFES), Nigeria, Abuja, Nigeria.
Afrobarometer (2007). Preliminary Observation Nigeria’s April 2007 Election: The Public Mood. Accessed on 15th December, 2017 [online]. www.afrobarometer.org
Aidt, T.S. & Jensen, P.S. (2012). From open to secret ballot: vote buying and modernization. In: Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 1102. University of Cambridge.
Atoyebi, Olufemi, Ajaja, Tunde, Aworinde & Tobi (2018). Fayemi Wins as APC, PDP woo voters with Cash. Accessed on 21st April, 2019 [online]. http://punchng.com/fayemi-wins-as-apc-pdp-woo-voters-with-cash.
Blaydes, L., (2006). Who votes in authoritarian elections and why? Determinants of voter turnout in contemporary Egypt. In: Paper Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, 2006, Philadelphia, PA.
Bratton, M. (2008). Vote Buying and Violence in Nigerian Election Campaigns. Electoral Studies. 27(4), 621-632.
Carreras, M. & Irepoglu, Y.(2013). Trust in elections, vote buying, and turnout in Latin America, Electoral Studies. 32(4), 609-619.
Franklin, M.N., (2004). Voter Turnout and the Dynamics of Electoral Competition in Established Democracies since 1945. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Guardado, J. and Wantchekon, L. (2018). Do Electoral Handouts Affect Voting Behaviour? Electoral Studies, 53, 139-149.
Hayes, B.C. & McAllister, I (1996). Marketing Politics to voters late deciders in the 1992 British Election. European Journal of Marketing. 30(1011), 127-139.
Jensen, P.S. & Justesen, M.K. (2014). Poverty and Vote Buying Survey-Based Evidence from Africa. Electoral Studies. 33, 220-232
Keefer, P. & Vlaicu, R. (2017). Vote Buying and Campaign Promises. Journal of Comperative Economics. 45(4), 773-792.
Khemani, S. (2015). Buying Votes versus Supplying public services political incentives to under-invest in pro-poor policies. Journal of Development Economics. 117, 84-93.
Kitschelt, H. & Wilkinson, S. (Eds.), (2007). Patrons, Clients and Policies: Patterns of Democratic Accountability and Political Competition. Cambridge University Press, New York.
Kitschelt, H., Kirk H., Juan P. L., Guillermo R. & Elizabeth Z. (2010). Latin American Party Systems. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Kramon, E. (2016). Where is vote buying effective evidence from a list experiment in Kenya. Electoral Studies. 44, 397-408.
Napel S. (2002). Bilateral Bargaining Theory and Applications. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
Neeman, Z. & Orosel, G.O. (2006). On the Efficiency of Vote Buying when voters have common interests. International Review of Law and Economics. 26(4), 536-556.
Nichter, S. (2014). Conceptualizing vote buying. Electoral Studies. 35, 315-327.
Ojo E.O. (2008). Vote Buying in Nigeria. In Adetula V.A.O. Money and Politics in Nigeria (Pp. 109-122). Printed by International Foundation for Electoral System.
Omotola, J.S. (2010). Elections and Democratic Transition in Nigeria under the Fourth Republic. African Affairs. 109(437), 535-553.
Onuoha, F. & Ojo, J. (2018, December 13th). Practice and Perils of Vote Buying in Nigeria’s Recent Elections. Conflict Trends. Accessed on 25th April, 2019 [online]. https://www.accord.org.za/conflict-trends/practice-and-perils-of--vote-buying-in-nigeria’s-recent-elections/
Punch (2018). With 87m Poor Citizens, Nigeria overtakes India as World’s Poverty Capital. Accessed on 21st April, 2019 [online]. http://punchng.com/with-87m-poor-citizens-nigeria-overtakes-india-as-worlds-poverty-capital
Risk, V.M. & Stoetzer, L.F.(2019). Election fraud, digit tests and how humans fabricate vote counts - An experimental approach, Electoral Studies, 1-37
Robinson, J., & Verdier, T. (2013). The political economy of clientelism. Scandinavian Journal of Economics 115 (2), 260-291.
Scott, J. (1985). Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut.
The Electoral Act 2010 (as amended), accessed on 25th April, 2019 [online]. https://nass.gov.ng/document/download/5804
The Electoral Act 2006, Nigeria Electoral Act 2006, accessed on 25th April, 2019 [online]. https://www.refworld.org/docid/4c3dcbb82.html.
Van Bragt, D.D.B., Gerding, E.H. and La Poutre, J.A. (2000). On the level of Cooperative behaviour in a Local Interaction Model. Journal of Economics (Zeitschrijt fUr Nationalokonomie), 71(1), 1-30.
Vicente, P. C. & Wantchekon, L. (2009). Clientelism and vote buying: lessons from field experiments in African elections. Oxf. Rev. Econ. Policy, 25(2), 292–305.
Wang, C.-S., Kurzman, C., (2007). The logistics: how to buy votes. In: Schaffer (Ed.), Elections for Sale: the Causes and Consequences of Vote Buying. Lynne Rienner Publishers, Boulder, Colorado, 61-79.
Young, H.P. (1998). Individual Strategy and Social Structure. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to transfer copyright. This transfer will ensure the widest possible dissemination of information. A notification will be sent to the corresponding author confirming receipt of the manuscript. If excerpts from other copyrighted works are included, the author(s) must obtain written permission from the copyright owners and credit the source(s) in the article.
