Steemit Engagement Challenge S8-W3 | Elections in my Country

The last two weeks have been very tough in my country and this includes today since we just had our gubernatorial election as well as state legislators. Election in my country or anywhere around the world is a very vital period as it determines those who will make laws and policies, and adjust or create an entirely new constitution (in a democratic country). While democracy is still very new to my country as we became a democratic country again in 1999 after a bloody civil war, and military rule even though we got our independence in the year 1960. This shows that we are still very new when it comes to democracy compared to countries like the United States and the United Kingdom, but then in my country, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Join me as we dive into the nitty gritty of my country's election, using the elections held in 2015, 2019, and that of this month (March 2023) as references, since we run a four-year tenure system.

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What do you think about Elections in your country

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In my country, the election has always been a business of deals between the parties involved. When we regained democracy in 1999, the ruling party then was the People's democratic party (PDP), and they ruled for 16 years with 3 presidents from that party. Fast forward to the 2015 election, the people wanted a change of power, and there was a coalition of three opposition parties which are Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), and Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), to form the All Progressive Congress (APC). At this point, there were only two major parties which were the APC and the PDP, and other parties didn't matter. The PDP was in power and was willing to buy votes at all levels. There were viral videos of party members of the PDP going around with cash of money to buy votes. They were going to win the election without any violence, rather they would use the money to buy the conscience of people, so they thought, but at that point, we were experiencing a rising degree of insurgency, and the value of our currency had reached 300 Naira to a dollar, and the price of fuel was 75 Naira per liter, and we wanted a change (actually, that was the slogan of the new opposition party the APC), so the ruling party lost and I can say, that was the first time vote buying didn't win an election in my country. Vote buying is wrong on all levels but you see politicians in my country can buy anyone and anything when it is election time.

^Flickr

The All Progressive Party became the ruling party in 2015, and they were unable to fulfill their promises as expected but then the 2015 election was a very brutal one where ballot boxes were stolen by armed thugs and even the police and military. Voters' oppression was extremely high and people were unable to perform their civic duty. In states like Kogi, any poling unit the ruling party wasn't winning, they were going to shoot sporadically, and steal the voting ballot boxes thereby declaring that the polling unit canceled and votes in that region void. This didn't mean that they wouldn't be declared winners since other units would be counted. The ruling party still held its mandate and the opposition wasn't really contending, since there is always a way to compensate themselves with deals and positions so they can still have access to the public funds even though not directly.

In 2023, the entire election norm changed, as there came a third party which was birthed by bitter and angry youths who cannot bear the fact that they cannot protest in peace about the bad government without being killed, the fact that they cannot transact in foreign currency as a result of policies that makes it impossible for them to purchase goods abroad or transact with foreign currencies, Police brutality, a devaluation of our currency where 1 dollar is now 750 Naira, insurgence which has now upgraded from the normal terrorist group in 2015 to banditry, Kidnapping, herdsmen attack and so many types of insurgence (in fact, if you want to learn a new name for an insurgence, I guess my country is good at giving names to insurgence). In this year's election, there are three major parties which are the previous All Progressive Party (APC) which is the ruling party, The People's Democratic Party (PDP), and the Labour Party (LP). This is the first election I will see people coming out in mass to perform their franchise, and most of these people were youths who have the intention of voting in the Labour party (LP), but as expected they were disenfranchised. People were prevented from voting by the ruling party, ballot boxes were destroyed to prevent the votes from being counted, vote buying was done via electronic transfers, and the officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were compromised. Well, A president was eventually announced, and while I do not agree with this election result and this goes for a lot of people, we only have to watch the parties involve drag it into court, or settle out of court to cut deals as usual.

Today is the gubernatorial election and there has been a lot of voters oppression, violence, and rigging of elections as usual in so many states hopefully, the independent electoral body will impose those who have been able to play the game of politics best to us rather than the people's choices. Election in my country is a do or die for the politicians, but once the result has been announced, it becomes a deal bargain between the winners and the losers, while the electorates suffer as they are the victims who would be mishandled during elections, whose resources would be stolen for personal gains by the people in offices, and then they will be shot at for protesting if they ever try to.

^Flickr

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What do you think about the electoral system in your country?

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I am only using this avenue to pour out my mind and tell the truth about how I feel about the election of my country, and I will say that while the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) promised to bring a system of electronic broadcasting the results of elections from the Poling units to the IREV portal so the world can see, they still didn't broadcast the result because they were going to rig the elections and perform different types of electoral misdeeds. If the commission had followed through with its promise, as well as provided security (possibly the military) to prevent political thugs from oppressing voters (since the police are as corrupt as the thugs themselves), we would have heard a peaceful, free, and fair election but that wasn't the case.

Today, in Lagos State, there were a lot of people who were prevented from voting because they were not Yorubas. It is very funny that they allowed Hausas and Fulanis to vote but prevented the Igbos from voting. The electoral system of Nigeria is nothing to write home about, Little wonder why people are escaping from the country in the form of migration for education or a better life.

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How is it done in your country?

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The voting process in my country starts years or months before the election day, as people go to get their voter's card. The eligible age for voting in my country is 18 years old and above. On the day of the election, voters go to their wards, then to their polling unit where they check the voters' register if their name appears on the list. When that is done, they form a line to get accredited. The accreditation process is done using the BVAS machine which scans either the person's face, thumbprint, or card, or checks the name of the person to confirm if the person is registered in that ward. After Accreditation, the voter goes to the voting box where they cast their vote, and put them in the ballot box. Citizens are advised to wait and ensure that their votes are counted after the election process has been completed in the polling unit after which it is to be uploaded on the IREV portal with the BVAS while another copy is pasted at the polling unit. This is in a sane case but as expected, in my country this procedure might not be completed as it can be disrupted by thugs, or the agent would say they cannot upload the result on the IREV because they want to change the result and manipulate figures.

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Is it transparent and fair in your country

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I have said this multiple times in this post, and I will not be tired of saying that election in my country is not free and fair. In fact, everything can be weaponized just to ensure the election is not fair and this goes as far as ethnic bigotry, using live ammunition on citizens, destroying ballot boxes, buying votes, bribing electoral officers, and any other type of electoral misconduct that you expect in an unfair election.

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Assume there's no fairness and effectiveness as far as elections are concerned, what solutions can you propose to ensure its being carried out the right way

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The first thing that needs to be worked on is the electoral constitution. People should be allowed to vote from their comfort, unless from people who do not have a browsing-enabled phone. The Results should appear in real time on a blockchain platform. Even though I will advise using the blockchain since it is a public ledger and cannot be tampered with, I will still ensure that citizens' voter's cards are checked, also proof of life is done to be sure that it is the owner of the card that is voting. If people are able to vote from their comfort, then voter suppression would be eliminated. people who do not have access to a browsing phone, or people who can put them through at their home can go vote at the polling unit to perform their civic duty. This will also reduce vote buying since the vote buyer cannot be there to confirm which party the voter voted for. Also, the process of rigging will be eliminated. Using the blockchain is the only way I can see as at currently that can eliminate unfair and violent election in my ccountry.

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Conclusion

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Personally, I am not happy about how election process goes in my country, and I just used this opportunity to vent my spleen on this issue, coupled with the fact that the election is still very fresh (even some election results in my country are yet to be announced as at the time of writing this post). Thanks a lot for reading this post.

I will like to invite @samminator, @okere-blessing @talktofaith @preye2, @simonnwigwe, and @lavanyalakshman.

If you missed my introduction post, you can read through it here