Electoral Fraud in Nigeria: A Philosophical Evaluation of the Framework of Electoral Violence

Abstract

In the 2011 general elections in Nigeria, the Independent National Election Commission (INEC), the electoral management body (EMB) that organized the elections pulled what may pass as an electoral feat in achieving one of the most open, credible, peaceful and transparent elections within Nigeria's recent memory. Before the 2011 elections, Nigeria had the 1999, 2003 and the 2007 elections considered by both national and international election observers, the Common Wealth Election Monitoring groups and the civil society, to be the most disorganized and fraudulent election during which people's votes were blatantly stolen, rigged and the mandate of the people hijacked by political elites belonging variously to different political parties. Nigeria's democracy, no doubt, is still nascent, evolving and could be classified as a new democracy. This paper takes a critical look at a disturbing national and international question: why is there so much electoral fraud in new and emerging democracies like Nigeria. The article seeks to establish the reasons and causes of electoral manipulation, its dynamics and corrupt tendencies, especially those electoral outcomes that are disputed as a result of electoral misconduct known as "electoral fraud". The article will evaluate the concept of electoral fraud, explore the challenges of electoral fraud, its consequent crisis for new democracies and suggests ways of curtailing the phenomenon in its varied manifestations .