Government · Lesson 7

Elections, electoral systems & INEC

JAMBWAECNECO

What the syllabus asks

JAMB: Electoral process: suffrage, types of election, electoral systems, electoral commissions; public commissions (INEC)

WAEC: Elections and electoral systems: suffrage (meaning, types, qualifications, disqualifications); types of election; electoral systems (simple majority, absolute majority, proportional representation); electoral process; electoral commissions: functions, problems; free and fair elections

NECO: Elections and electoral systems: suffrage (meaning, types, qualifications, disqualifications); types of election; electoral systems (simple majority, absolute majority, proportional representation); electoral process; electoral commissions: functions, problems; free and fair elections

What you will learn

Define suffrage and explain its types, qualifications and disqualifications.
Explain types of election and direct/indirect elections.
Explain and evaluate the main electoral systems.
Describe the electoral process and the rules for presidential and governorship elections in Nigeria.
Describe the composition, functions and problems of INEC and the history of Nigeria’s electoral bodies.
Explain the conditions for free and fair elections and the problems of elections in Nigeria.

Key points

Election: choosing office-holders by voting; suffrage: the right to vote; universal adult suffrage at 18 in Nigeria.
Historic limits: Clifford 1922 income qualification; women in the former Northern Region excluded in the early period.
Ages to contest: President, Governor, Senator 35; House of Representatives and State Assembly 25 (since 31 May 2018).
Types: general, by-election, primary, run-off, referendum, plebiscite, recall.
Simple majority: most votes wins; absolute majority: over 50%, else run-off; PR: seats proportional to votes.
President (s.134): highest votes + 25% in two-thirds of states and FCT; Governor (s.179): + 25% in two-thirds of LGAs.
Process: delimitation, registration, primaries, nomination, campaign, voting (BVAS), collation (IReV, Form EC8A), declaration, petitions (21/180/60 days).
Electoral bodies: ECN 1958, FEC 1960, FEDECO 1978, NEC 1987, NECON 1995, INEC 1998.
INEC: Chairman + 12 National Commissioners; RECs; functions include elections, parties, register, monitoring.
SIECs conduct local government elections.
Free and fair elections: independent commission, secret ballot, accurate register, neutral security, independent judiciary.

Start here: Meaning of elections and suffrage

Every four years, millions of Nigerians queue at polling units with their voter cards. In a single day, they decide who will hold power. That process, an election, is the main way people in a democracy give or withdraw consent (legitimacy, gv1).

An election is the process by which qualified citizens choose, by voting, the persons who will represent them or hold public office.

Suffrage (or franchise) is the right to vote. Universal adult suffrage is the right of every adult citizen to vote, without discrimination on grounds of sex, religion, wealth, education or ethnicity.

Types of suffrage (historically)

Limited (restricted) suffrage: only some people may vote. Restrictions have included:
- Property or income qualifications: under the Clifford Constitution (1922), the vote for the Lagos and Calabar seats was limited to adult males with a minimum annual income of £100 (a high sum then).
- Sex: women denied the vote. In Nigeria’s former Northern Region, women could not vote in the elections of the 1950s and the First Republic.
- Education (literacy tests) and race.
Universal adult suffrage: all adult citizens vote. Nigeria applies it nationwide under the 1979 and 1999 Constitutions.

Worked example 7.1

Explain why universal adult suffrage strengthens legitimacy.

When every adult can vote, the winner’s mandate comes from the whole adult population, not a privileged section.
Groups who are excluded from voting are less likely to accept decisions as rightful.

Wider participation = wider consent

Try it yourself. Which colonial constitution limited the vote to adult males with an income of £100 a year?

Show solution

The Clifford Constitution, 1922.

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Practice questions

1. The right to vote is called

franchise (suffrage)
referendum
recall
plebiscite

Show answer

A: franchise (suffrage)
Universal adult suffrage at 18 in Nigeria.

2. The minimum voting age in Nigeria is

Show answer

D: 18
For citizens registered as voters.

3. Since 2018, the minimum age to contest for the House of Representatives is

Show answer

C: 25
The "Not Too Young to Run" alteration.

4. The minimum age to contest for President is

Show answer

B: 35
Reduced from 40 in 2018.

5. An election held to fill a vacancy caused by death or resignation is a

by-election
general election
primary election
run-off

Show answer

A: by-election
Only in the affected constituency.

Key words

Suffrage (franchise): The right to vote in elections.
Universal adult suffrage: The right of all adult citizens to vote, regardless of sex, wealth, religion or education.
Electorate: All the people qualified to vote.
Constituency: A defined area whose voters elect a representative.
Delimitation: Dividing a country into constituencies.
Gerrymandering: Drawing constituency boundaries unfairly to favour one party.
By-election: An election to fill a vacancy that arises between general elections.
Run-off election: A second election between leading candidates when no one met the winning requirement.
Primary election: An election within a party to choose its candidates.
Recall: A procedure by which voters remove their elected representative before the end of his term.
Referendum: A direct vote of the electorate on a specific question.
Secret ballot: Voting in private so that no one knows how a person voted.

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