ECOWAS Parliament Report: Low Voter Turnout Recorded in Nigeria’s Presidential Elections

A member of Nigerian’s delegations to the Community Parliament Lynda Chuba Ikpeazu at the ongoing 2023 first Ordinary Session presentation of country report at ECOWAS
Nigeria’s 2023 presidential elections were expected to be a pivotal moment for the country, as millions of eligible voters were called upon to exercise their democratic right to choose their next leader. However, a presentation made to the ECOWAS parliament this week showed the reality of the turnout is far from what was hoped for. It is said a meager 26.72% of registered voters showed up at the polls.
The country report presented by Honorable Lynda Chuba Ikpeazu, a member of Nigeria’s delegation to the Community Parliament on Thursday, stated numerous reasons behind this underwhelming performance. Technical glitches and logistical issues were pointed out as the top reasons for what has been described as the worst voter turnout since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999. Out of the total registered voters of 93.47 million, only 24.9 million people cast their vote.
Despite these deficiencies, the parliament heard that Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Bola Ahmed Tinubu of the All Progressive Congress (APC) the winner of the election, sparking heated debates and legal challenges from other parties.
It is reported that 5 out of the 17 parties that participated in the elections have united to dispute the election outcome declared by INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmoud Yakubu. The case will be brought before the Presidential Election Petition Court (PEPC) sitting at the Court of Appeal in Abuja at a date to be announced. The parties include the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate Atiku Abubakar, the Labour Party (LP) and its flag bearer Peter Obi, the Action Alliance (AA), All Peoples Movement (APM), and the Action Peoples Party (APP) and its candidate, Nnadi Osita.