Presidential Election Results and Stock Market Performance: Evidence From Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigates the effect of Presidential election results on the performance of an emerging stock market using the case of the 2011 and 2015 Presidential elections in Nigeria. Adopting Event Study methodology to analyse the secondary data obtained from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) and some national dailies, the results of the study suggest that the 2011 presidential election result had negative significant impact on the performance of the stock market. On the other hand, the 2015 Presidential election result had positive but insignificant impact on the stock market as evidenced by the average and cumulative abnormal returns on the event date and one day post-event date- an indication that the result of the 2015 Presidential election was a welcomed development as leadership changed from PDP to All Progressives Congress (APC).