Repeated electoral irregularities: Explaining Nigeria’s elections in seven quadrennial election cycles

This study offers an explanation to repeated electoral irregularities that crystalize in fatal election violence, contested (litigated) election outcomes, and declining voter turnout in seven quadrennial national election cycles in Nigeria. It argues that irregularities account for repeated poor management of Nigerian elections since 1999. The various government-determined reforms to address the problem usually fail at the level of implementation because they are determined for (not with) the people. The study leverages the propositions of institutional theory to shed more light on the depressing effects of recurring irregularities on the core value of democratic elections. It relies on records of election-related fatalities, litigations and turnout, textual contents of available literature, and key informant interviews, embellished with personal experience as active participants in Nigerian elections for its statistical evidence (data). The examination and analysis of data lend credence to the afore-stated arguments, with a policy implication for Nigeria to explore alternative reform initiatives that allow the led to take the lead given the recurring failures of government-backed interventions.