Most studies on elections in Nigeria have shown that elections in Nigeria have been characterized by several undemocratic activities, including rigging and manipulation of electoral results, nepotism and corruption, electoral violence and indiscipline arising from unethical and the breach of the constitution by electoral officials and the elites in the society while these literature lack empirical analysis. Hence, this study will empirically examine the level of preparations of INEC before the conduct of the 2011 gubernatorial elections in South-Eastern Nigeria and also identified the challenges faced by INEC during the conduct of the 2011 gubernatorial elections in South-Eastern Nigeria. Arising from the field study, 84.42% respondents agreed that there was insufficient time for training of INEC staffs before the 2011 election which did not allow for proper assessment of personnel before deployment to the field. While, 98.49% respondents agreed that multiple registration and underage registrations were some of the major challenges experienced by Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) during the 2011 registration exercise in South Eastern Nigeria. The study concluded that the 2011 gubernatorial elections conducted in South Eastern Nigeria were neither perfect nor faultless; the elections provided a genuine opportunity for larger number of citizens to exercise their right to vote and for their votes to count compared to the previous elections
Keywords: Election Administration, Electoral system, Gubernatorial Election, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC)
