IMPLICATIONS OF THE 2023 GENERAL ELECTIONS ON SUSTAINABLE DEMOCRACY AND NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN NIGERIA
Keywords:
Elections, electoral process, democracy, BVAS, PVCAbstract
This study examines the implications of the 2023 General Elections on sustainable democracy and national development in Nigeria, considering the issues, challenges and solutions as the main objective. The study adopted the descriptive research design and collected data from journals, textbooks, newspaper reports and online materials bothering on the subject matter, while content analysis was used to analyse the data. The democratic elitism theory was used as theoretical framework to further analyse the implications of the 2023 general elections in Nigeria. The study amongst others found out that the elections brought some electoral advancement like the use of the Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and the Electoral Act, 2020. However, the election recorded some challenges such as; voter intimidation, thuggery, electoral arson amongst others. The study, therefore, recommends that, there is need for electoral reorientation, electoral fairness and justice and that the electoral umpire should be allowed to operate on an independent basis as stipulated in the Constitution.
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