The ranking placed Nigeria in 186th position, only after Haiti, among 187 countries of the world. Nigeria is the second country in the world with the lowest voter turnout, worse than war-ravaged Afghanistan and Libya, a new ranking by Picodi has shown.

The ranking placed Nigeria in 186th position, only after Haiti, among 187 countries of the world. Nigeria also ranked worst in Africa. Nigeria’s low voter turnout

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how Nigeria recorded a new low in voter turnout during the last general elections. With a national turnout of 29 per cent, a Premium Times analysis showed that the last election had the lowest participation rate in the country’s six decades of independence.

It further revealed that of the 93.4 million registered voters this year, 87.2 million people collected their Permanent Voters Card and the total number of actual voters on election day was only 24.9 million..The winner of the election, Bola Tinubu, had less than nine million votes, roughly 10 per cent of the total eligible voters.

Another analysis by this newspaper revealed that all the 18 candidates in Nigeria’s February elections received only 27.55 per cent of the total eligible votes.

The new ranking
Meanwhile, the new ranking by Picodi revealed that Nigeria’s average voter turnout in the last three election cycles is 29.15 per cent, slightly lower than 21.58 per cent recorded in Haiti, which got the worst record in the ranking.

Other countries in the last five but which did better than Nigeria, according to the rankings, are Afghanistan (32.71 per cent), Egypt (32.80 per cent), Algeria (33.33 per cent) and Tunisia (35.00 per cent). Libya has a 39.79 per cent voter turnout average, according to the ranking.

Eight of the last 10 countries in the bottom of the list are in African. The two non-African countries are Romania, with 40.92 per cent average turn out and world’s lowest record holder, Haiti.

Top-record holders
Conversely, Vietnam, Lao and Rwanda hold the highest voter turnout in the world, all of them with more than 95 per cent voter turnout rate in the last three election cycles. Vietnam has a 99.10 per cent average voter turnout, Laos has 98.55 per cent and Rwanda records 96.55 per cent.

Other countries in the top spot include: Singapore (94.35 per cent), Ethiopia (93.43 per cent), Turkmenistan (93.33 per cent) Equatorial Guinea (91.71 per cent) and Nauru (91.57 per cent). In Africa, Rwanda (96.65 per cent), Ethiopia (93.43 per cent) and Equatorial Guinea (91.71 per cent) boast the highest average scores.

Methodology
Picodi said its analysts calculated the average voter turnout using data from the last three presidential and/or parliamentary elections held in the listed countries.

“Turnout data comes from International IDEA, IFES Election Guide and local election commissions,” it stated. In situations where elections had two rounds, we calculated the average based on the turnout in both rounds.”

The organisation, however, stated that high voter turnout does not necessarily mean high social engagement and trust in the local government in those countries as there may be local legislations that could have influenced the voter turnout.

“Some countries, such as Luxembourg, Belgium, Bolivia and Uruguay, introduced compulsory voting law, according to which sanctions such as a financial penalty can be imposed on citizens who fail to participate in the elections. Some governments may also abuse their power to manipulate the elections, including the voter turnout,” the organisation added.

Qosim Suleiman is a reporter at Premium Times in partnership with Report for the World, which matches local newsrooms with talented emerging journalists to report on under-covered issues around the globe.

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/634921-voter-turnout-nigeria-ranks-worlds-second-worst-nation-report.html?utm_campaign=twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter

Election Petitions Filed By Litigants Can’t Be Used To Assess 2023 Polls, Says INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has stated that it was inappropriate to solely assess the credibility of the Commission or the conduct of the 2023 General Election on the number of petitions filed by litigants who, in any case, have the right to do so under the law.

In response to a recent news report titled “INEC’s credibility sinks as 94 per cent contested posts await tribunal,” the national commissioner and chairman of the Information and Voter Education Committee at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Sam Olumekun, in a statement on Thursday in Abuja explained that the report contained inaccuracies and called for a more balanced perspective on the matter.

Providing a detailed clarification on the situation, Olumekun pointed out several key issues with the report. Firstly, he highlighted that the report had inaccurate figures regarding the number of constituencies where elections were conducted in 2023.He said the correct figures were 1,491 constituencies across the country, consisting of various positions.

According to him, “First, basic fact check on the information regularly published by the Commission and available on our website would have shown that in 2023, elections were not conducted in 1,280 constituencies, including 782 State Assembly seats. On[b] the contrary, elections were conducted in 1,491 constituencies across the country made up of 1 Presidential, 28 Governorship, 109 Senatorial, 360 House of Representatives, and 993 State Assembly constituencies.[/b]

“Similarly, the claim that State Assembly elections were held in only 28 States of the country is made on the lazy assumption that no such elections were held in the eight States of the federation where executive elections are held off-cycle. As every attentive Nigerian knows, the tenure of legislators is tied to the legislative houses which is a fixed term of four years from the date the Assembly is inaugurated, unlike the term of office of the executive which begins from the date they take the oath of office.”

Secondly, he said the report incorrectly blamed INEC for pre-election cases arising from political party primaries. He averred that these cases are intra-party matters and do not involve INEC in the primary election process.

Olumekun also addressed the fact that many litigants in Nigeria file election petitions for various reasons, and not all of these petitions have merit. In fact, 74.4 per cent of the petitions have been dismissed or withdrawn, demonstrating that the majority of them lacked merit.

“In pursuit of their right under the law, many litigants in Nigeria, unfortunately, file election petitions over the most improbable cases and later withdraw them or they are dismissed by the tribunals. If the report had taken time to analyse the outcome of the cases decided so far by the tribunals, it would have been discovered that out of 1,196 petitions, 712 were dismissed and 179 withdrawn.

“This means that in 891 cases (74.4 per cent), the tribunals found no merit in the petitions and affirmed the result of the elections conducted by INEC. It is surprising how the mere filing of petitions constitutes a blot on the integrity of the recent elections conducted by INEC when in fact they constitute an integral part of the democratic process,” he stated.

Furthermore, he explained that the report’s analysis of the total number of petitions was misleading, as it did not consider that multiple petitions can be filed for a single constituency, which distorts the percentage calculation.

Olumekun stressed that election petitions are not limited to challenging INEC’s conduct but can also involve the eligibility of candidates, which is a matter for the courts to decide, not INEC. More so, he provided a comparative analysis showing that the number of election petitions may be rising, but the number of elections being nullified remains relatively low over the past three electoral cycles.

Olumekun noted that it is inappropriate to assess the credibility of INEC and the 2023 General Election solely based on the number of petitions filed by litigants, as they have the legal right to do so. He called for a more circumspect approach to reporting and urged the media to strengthen public institutions rather than impugn their integrity, especially when dealing with basic statistics.

The statement reads in part: “A comparative analysis would have addressed the deliberate effort in the report to portray the 2023 General Election as regressive on account of litigation without empirical evidence. Over the last three electoral cycles, the number of election petitions may be rising but not the number of upturned elections. In 2015, 663 cases were filed at the tribunals, 87 (13.1 per cent) were nullified and the Commission ordered to conduct a re-run in some polling units or entire constituencies.

“In 2019, 807 petitions were filed but elections were only re-run in 30 (3.71 per cent) constituencies (3 Senatorial Districts, 13 Federal Constituencies and 14 State Constituencies).

“While the 2023 post-election litigations are ongoing, all five petitions filed in respect of the Presidential election were dismissed while three are pending on appeal. As of Monday 16th October 2023, out of 82 Governorship election petitions, 72 (87.8 per cent) were either dismissed or withdrawn by the petitioners.

For Senatorial elections, 146 petitions were filed out of which 100 (68.5 per cent) were dismissed or withdrawn. For the House of Representatives, 413 petitions were filed out of which 309 (74.81 per cent) were dismissed or withdrawn while for State Houses of Assembly, 550 petitions were filed out of which 468 (82.4 per cent) were dismissed or withdrawn.

“The Commission wishes to restate that it is inappropriate to solely assess the credibility of INEC or the conduct of the 2023 General Election on the number of petitions filed by litigants who, in any case, have the right to do so under the law.

“While we wish to restate our continuing partnership with the media, it is prudent to state that the pen should be used to strengthen rather than impugn the integrity of public institutions particularly where basic statistics demand that we should be circumspect.”

https://leadership.ng/election-petitions-filed-by-litigants-cant-be-used-to-assess-2023-polls-says-inec/?utm_source=&utm_medium=twitter nlfpmod

Wahala

We often blame the politicians for our woes. But, many times, we are the ones who fail to do what we need to do.

All the indices of economic, humanitarian, electoral, democratic or constitutional that have been used as assessment tools for development have always returned Nigeria an abysmal failure for the worst of anything on earth under this evil govt.

We'll soon graduate from 2nd Worst to 1st Worst.
Yakubu and Ebola severely damaged the trust of Nigerian voters towards Elections.

Why not?

“The Commission wishes to restate that it is inappropriate to solely assess the credibility of INEC or the conduct of the 2023 General Election on the number of petitions filed by litigants who, in any case, have the right to do so under the law.

“It is prudent to state that the pen should be used to strengthen rather than impugn the integrity of public institutions particularly where basic statistics demand that we should be circumspect.”

INEC under the criminal called Mahamod Yakubu is still insulting the sensibility of the bastardized electorate of this nation with all the sham incongruent outcomes of the 2023 elections its conducted. That even one of the sham elections its conducted is being contested in court alone is an indictment on it.

INEC have no integrity or whatever left of it.
Not forgetting the mass voters apathy it have entrenched in the minds of Nigeria who gave it a benefit of doubt to conduct the most free, fair and credible election given it many assurances of 2023 only for it to bungled everything.

Why will they vote when there votes don't count
Example is what happened in Rivers state 2023 presidential elections

There's always a low turnout during elections in Nigerian.

Even Fela kuti talked about it in one of his song called Teacher don't teach me nonsense

People don't vote but politicians inflate the figures. The BVAS stopped them from inflating election results in the last election.

Which kin election be dz

Babanla nonsense

People no go vote but dem go dey get big big numbers.

The 2023 presidential election is the best in Nigeria

Normally Naija na cruise

Are you sure this is accurate? Are we not meant to be first worst nation?

186th position? Na we suppose carry last sef. Haiti was rigged to take the last position.

We will do better next time Insha Allah

Well deserved! They will soon get to the first position in the subsequent ones

Why even vote when we all know Muslim criminals like Tinubu will be rigged in . South West and the Norty have destroyed Nigeria beyond repair with their stupid tribalism. People who don't care for progress but are always envious and hateful . That's why they fear Biafra that much , they know we will show them fire .

EyeCumInPiss:
We'll soon graduate from 2nd Worst to 1st Worst.
Yakubu and Ebola severely damaged the trust of Nigerian voters towards Elections.

Na because of Bola Tinubu dey decide born you for The Federal Republic of Nigeria abi?

Beremx:
186th position? Na we suppose carry last sef. Haiti was rigged to take the last position.

We will do better next time Insha Allah

You Faceless Things are rather shameless, are you laughing @ yourself, or are you not Nigerian?

Free and FEARFUL elections indeed!🤣

Even the ALMAJIRI KKK states were missing with their GBAJUE BLOCK VOTES FROM ISLAMABAD!

Muchechechecheche

Truth is the voters register is full of 50% fake names

Nigerians population is over blown

No blame us, na because no be who we vote, go win. At the end, THIEFNIBU Baban BARAWOO go sneak early mor mor, go collect certificate way no b him own.

There is no trust in the electoral system and a huge division based on tribe differences coupled with a biased primary that usually end with known Godfathers appearing for pools.

These guys are not serious.

Why should we go out to vote when it doesn't count?

At least we rank no. 2 and 1 respectively globally for PRAYER and CORRUPTION, that count for something.

The accuracy of this report is doubtful. So they are trying to say that with the mass social media and street mobilization of Peter Obi and his Ipob supporters who were waving Nigerian flags for the first time ever, even with Psquare dancing in front of sellout crowds in Port Harcourt, turn out was still at an abysmal 29%? Na lie

What do you expect when buhari swore with Koran , Mahmoud swore in Chatham house and all interviews he granted that he granted and now after 400b had gone down the drain, manual voting conducted he and tinubu are singing same tune different from not only what was promised Nigerians but also against the electronic voting act which made Nigerians go out to vote..Mahmoud and tinubu dashed the hopes of selecting a credible Nigerian leader. If they had sworn in the rightful winner of that election Peter Obi by now that fraudulent trillions they are paying marketers and collecting back from pms prices deceiving Nigerians they have removed subsidy would have been spent by Obi on farmers. The multiplier effect by now would have been drastical fall of prices in the market and Nigerians would have been happier than this clueless emilokan idiot that doesn’t know what he is doing…smh

Tinubu won it .

Voters who matter , voted .

Idiots who stayed in mama house as usual , started drunken gossips.

Hmmm naija which way ?

Peter Obi won 2023 elections fair, clean and square , then Mahmoud went and selected the clueless certificate forging drug baron who came last with Kwakwanso…conduct free and fair electronic voting like is done in western countries 100 times..Obi will win tinubu 100 times…but the tinubu idiot of a fellow will pay for it

With INEC saying one thing and doing the opposite, things will get worse in the coming years. TBH, a country like Nigeria was a total mistake that shouldn't have happened.

Chai..





I don't rely on all those international media politics.


...they will ruin the system and still publish useless statistics about it.

10mobile:
We often blame the politicians for our woes. But, many times, we are the ones who fail to do what we need to do.

Oga, rest. Why would a citizen not want to choose their own leader?

What's the essence of voting when:
1. Your vote doesn't count
2. You could be beaten or killed on election day
3. INEC will promise realtime electronic transmission of result and turn around to do a different thing
4. You waste the whole day because you want to vote
5. Politicians make promises and never keep their words.
6. You choose your leader and one yeye court will use technicality to thwart the wishes of the people.

Many people are just tired of this country. The only thing is that they aren't as vocal as some of us. They have only accepted their fate and realized that their country has nothing to offer them. With INEC saying one thing and doing the opposite, voter apathy will get worse in the future.

EyeCumInPiss:
We'll soon graduate from 2nd Worst to 1st Worst.
Yakubu and Ebola severely damaged the trust of Nigerian voters towards Elections.

Hehehege

You are always free to sit at home on any day of election the same way you sit at home on Mondays

Your votes from that region do not count.

5% is irrelevant