The Incumbency Factor in Nigerian Elections: A Post-Fact Analysis of its Relevance to 2011 General Elections

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dc.contributor.authorOlaniyi, Johnson O.
dc.date.accessioned2018-12-19T11:18:51Z
dc.date.available2018-12-19T11:18:51Z
dc.date.issued2012
dc.description.abstractThe incumbency factor is a domineering issues in electoral processes in virtually all political systems. However, it appears more pronounced in the developing states of the world than the developed countries. Consequently, political analysis of such countries usually decapitate their energies on its relevance in any electoral dispensation. In the case of Nigeria, its importance cannot be dismissed with a whisker. This is because, experiences of political analysis in the country before 2011 elections have revealed that more often than not, when an incumbent government contested an election, it hardly lost such an election. However, the results of the 2011 elections held in the country in the month of April revealed that incumbency was not a dominating factor in the elections. This was because many incumbents lost elections to opposition candidates. Rather, other factors like 'issues' 'party affiliation' and 'personality' out played it (incumbency factor). To arrive at this finding, an attempt was made to consider the impact of incumbency on elections outcomes in the previously held elections in the country (especially Fourth Republic) vis-a-vis the 2011 elections. It was further revealed that incumbency had been a threat to democratitization process in Nigeria before 2011 elections because it used to dampen the enthusiasm of the 'opposition' parties!candidates. Coupled with this were the constitutional provisions cum electoral laws which empowered the incumbent President to appoint the Chairman, National commissioner and Resident Electoral Commission (!NEC). However, in order toe ameliorate the logjam of incumbency on Nigeria's electoral processes; this study suggests that 'election administration' should be handled by individuals whose neutrality cannot be disputed. This we have found in what we tag as an 'Electoral Transitional committee' which will have a Judge of the 'Supreme Court' (the country's highest appellate court) as its Chairman with all the registered political parties that field candidates to contest elections having representatives in the Committee. This suggestion is in tandem with one of the recommendations of the Electoral Reform Committee headed by Justice Uwais which submitted its report in February 2009 but which the Nigerian Government failed to adopt for policy action.en_US
dc.identifier.issn2141-7326
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/123456789/1462
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.publisherDepartment of Political Scienceen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseries2;2
dc.subjectIncumbencyen_US
dc.subjectelectionsen_US
dc.subjectpolitical partiesen_US
dc.subjectelectorateen_US
dc.subjectElectoral Commissionen_US
dc.titleThe Incumbency Factor in Nigerian Elections: A Post-Fact Analysis of its Relevance to 2011 General Electionsen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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