When was the last time you, as a Nigerian voter, rejoiced that the choices you made at the last election led to the consequences that you were expecting? In other words, were the expectations you had in voting for candidate A, B or C, fulfilled or were they tremendously dashed? These questions signpost the discussion in the current write-up as to whether the much trumpeted forthcoming elections will be worth the while of voters. To be sure, nowhere in the world are elections the magic cure for the woes of countries. But sometimes, in some countries, very often, they lead to the frequently talked about democratic dividends. However, when there is a persistent disconnect between election outcomes and the performance of those elected, that political community is shooting arrows at the heart of the democratic assumption.
For the 2023 elections to deliver the people’s expectations, at least in good measure, some conditions must be fulfilled. This columnist speaks not just about technique or what some experts call electoralism, which translates into holding free, credible and fair elections; but beyond those, to enquire what and what is necessary to make the elections worth our while. For example, if voters in response to campaigns to come out and vote en masse, defy the odds of nature and go out to do so while at the end of the day nothing changes or matters degenerate, the process, even if credible, has not measured up to the billings expected of it.
There is little doubt that our experience in this country has been more of electoralism than the deepening of democracy or the production of democracy dividends, both of which would have set our democracy on the path of consolidation. Put differently, Nigeria’s democracy, and indeed that of any country, remains on tenterhooks for as long as it is no more than a feast of expectations, a parade of rosy promises meant to titillate the electorate.
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