Insight Low voter turnout dots governorship elections across states

Low voter turnout has been witnessed across Nigeria as 28 states conduct their 2023 governorship and state house of assembly elections today.

Exactly three weeks ago, Nigerians went to the polls to elect their presidents, senators and House of Representatives members. Out of the total 93.47 million registered voters, only 24.9 million persons, representing 26.72 percent, voted in the February 25 presidential and National Assembly elections.

Following the postponement of the state level elections from March 11 to 18 by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Nigerians decided to come out again to exercise their franchise but the number of voters were not as high as that of February 25, according to reports from Dataphyte correspondents across the country.

In Bauchi State, a report showed that as at past 10 am, only six voters had cast their votes at Kofar Maigari Usamn 024 polling units, and no other voter was on the queue.

The report is the same in Lagos State, which has over 7 million registered voters. According to a report by the Guardian, in some parts of the state, particularly FESTAC, no voter was seen at some polling units as at 8.40 a.m. Meanwhile, polls opened at 8:30am.

In the South-East, in Abia State‘ Amasator Ward 3 polling unit 92, reports also showed that few voters turned out to exercise their civic rights. According to a report, election materials arrived at the polling unit at about 8 am but voting was yet to start because no voter had turned out to vote. 

In Rivers State, it was the same report. In Obio-Akpor, low voter turnout was reported. The electorate said they were unhappy with the outcome of the February 25 election, hence the decision to stay away.

At Ward 14 at Onitsha North Local Government Area of Anambra State, there were few voters as at 10am. Many said they stayed away because of loss of confidence in INEC.

On social media, citizens at different polling units in different states are also sharing their experiences with each complaining of low voter turnout in their polling units.

Several reasons have been cited for the poor voter turnout being experienced. A policy analyst, Ayantola Alayande, highlighted a number of reasons for the low voter turnout in the ongoing election. He pointed out that the postponement of the election by a week dampened the spirits of the electorate. “It would have been a different case if the elections followed the presidential elections straight up,” he said.

He also stated that INEC’s poor performance had altered people’s trust in the electoral system, noting that with a poor perception of INEC’s credibility citizens now doubted that their votes would count. 

Ayantola further noted that while the turnout was worrisome, the response in governorship elections had always been this way – low — which could be an issue of perception and buttressed that more focus was paid to presidential elections by the electorate. 

“A much smaller proportion of those who had come out to vote in the presidential polls often show up for the gubernatorial. Perhaps, this reflects the general understanding of public accountability in Nigeria — where there is a heavy focus on what goes on at the national level, more than the closer state-level affairs”, Ayantola submitted.

In addition to these, he pointed out the issue of voter intimidation and violence reported in the presidential elections and in the lead up to today’s elections, including threats to the lives of certain groups of the electorate, might have resulted in low turnout of voters.

Enough is Enough (EiE), a civil society organisation, highlighted the issue of voter intimidation as one of the reasons for the poor voter turnout in the guber election.

It however encouraged the electorates to come out to exercise their franchise.