Electoral Reforms: A Necessity for Free and Fair Elections in Nigeria (Published)
The research work was based on Electoral Reforms: A necessity for free and fair elections in Nigeria. A survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was made up of 14 communities in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State. Using purposive sampling technique, three hundred respondents were sampled for the study. The instrument for data collection is the questionnaire which has sixteen (16) items designed to elicit information on electoral reforms; a necessity for free and fair elections in Nigeria. The instrument was validated by experts in public administration and political science. The mean statistics was used to analyze the data collected. The findings of the study showed that ethnic/tribal loyalty, political violence, politics of god-fatherism, external and internal security threats among others are the challenges militating against the conduct of free and fair elections in Nigeria.The paper also discovered that electronic voting, electronic registration, administrative and financial autonomy of INEC, the use of digital security system among others are the types of electoral reforms that need to be put in place for conduct of free and fair elections.The paper concluded that electoral reforms will no doubt curb the irregularities in the conduct of elections in Nigeria. Relevant recommendations and suggestions for further studies were made.