THE APPLICATION OF THE ELECTORAL TECHNOLOGY FOR THE REFORMATION OF NIGERIAN ELECTORAL CYCLES

Abstract

Electoral stakeholders in Nigeria always put their hands on deck ensuring the conduct and the outcome of election in Nigeria represent the voting interest of the electorate. To this extent thus, many attempts have been made to reform the Nigerian electoral practices mainly to reduce the incidences of election irregularities for the purpose of improving the conduct of election in the country. Meanwhile, it has come to the knowledge of relevant electoral stakeholders that electoral technology has many roles to play for the improvement of many electoral practices in the country such as voters ‘registration exercise, accreditation of voters, polling of votes and collation and transmission of election result. To this extent therefore, this paper discussed the introduction of electoral technology largely to improve the conduct of election in Nigeria in more historical fashion. The main objective of the paper is to discuss how the introduction of electoral technology in the conduct of election in Nigeria turn out to be instrumental in providing solutions to the dilemma introduced by traditional voting system using ballot papers. The paper also takes into consideration the justification of electoral reforms using electronic devices ensuring the electoral outcome represent the exact voting interest of the electorate. It is also within the scope of the paper the various forces needed to be considered for the application of electoral technology largely to improve the conduct and the outcome of election in Nigeria. The paper finally concludes that despite the role played by electoral technology in the improvement of the election conduct in Nigeria, more effort need to be put in place to provide a breeding ground for electoral politics to assist in the promotion of the interest of the greatest number.