Wet Underwear: The Perils of Vote -Buying and Bad Governance in Nigeria (Published)
It was anticipated that the re-emergence of democratic rule in Nigeria in 1999 after a long interregnum of military dictatorship would usher in good governance in the country. However, after over two decades of democratizing, the negative bargain whereby citizens sell their votes (mandate) lured with vote-buying by politicians seems to have conspired to democratically “imprison” the masses to poverty in a serial display of bad governance by ruling mega parties. This paper examined the outstanding issues that facilitate vote-selling by citizens and vote-buying by candidates in the country. The paper is qualitative and descriptive in nature, and relied on secondary sources of data. It adopted the dialectical materialism approach, generally referred to as the Marxian political economy framework to guide data collection and analysis. Data were gathered from libraries and the Internet. The contents of the secondary data collected were dialectically analyzed in line with the objective of the paper. It was found that the retention of the inherited colonial state structure coupled with the economic disadvantageous position of the masses exposed citizens to collide in selling their mandate which gave the ruling elite the impunity to tactically institutionalize bad governance. To this end, among others, the paper recommended and concluded that only a simultaneous structural reform of the state and a deliberate robust human development programme can reverse the peril of vote-buying, which is reflected in the serial bad governance in the Nigerian system.
Godknows Asoka & Dr Anthony Rufus (2022) Wet Underwear: The Perils of Vote -Buying and Bad Governance in Nigeria, Global Journal of Political Science and Administration, Vol.10, No.4, pp.58-69
Keywords: Vote Buying, bad governance, peril, wet underwear
Materialism and Commodifcation of Delegacy: A Political Economy of Vote Buying/Selling In 2014 Pdp Governorship Primary in Nasarawa State, Nigeria (Published)
Party politics in Nigeria is essentially a market scenario whereof political power, patronage and votes are objects of economic transaction. Driven by the logic of materialism and opportunism, the average Nigerian politician sees politics as a premium investment as well as an avenue for material accumulation and aggrandizement. Partisan relations in this context are characteristically commoditized in such a manner that passes for buying and selling of electoral patronage and votes. This paper examines this trend with particular reference to the 2014 PDP primary election in Nasarawa State. By way of a purposive survey conducted on a cross-section of delegates to the 2014 PDP primary elections in the State, the paper observes that vote buying/selling played a significant role in determining the outcome of the elections. The paper reveals that most of the delegates were approached with pecuniary offers by agents of political aspirants in a bid to influence their voting choices. Although there was no ample empirical evidence to prove that the delegates were actually compromised in the process, circumstantial evidence suggests that some of the delegates must have voted based on material inducement. The paper thus submits that vote buying/selling is an important determinant of electoral victory in primary elections in Nigeria. More empirical studies are required in other parts of the country to validate the findings of this study.
Keywords: Commodification, Delegacy, Materialism, Opportunism, Political Economy, Selling, Vote Buying
Vote Buying and Voting Behavior In Indonesian Local Election: A Case In Pandeglang District (Published)
Vote buying is one of the prominent phenomena in Indonesian politics today, especially since the direct election era of 2004. This study discusses the influence of vote buying on voting behavior, by taking case in the 2011 Banten Gubernatorial Election at Pandeglang District, Banten Province. The main research questions is: does vote buying have influence to the voting behavior? Quantitative approach with Structural Equation Model (SEM) method was applied to examine the relationship between vote buying and voting behavior. The data collection was done by a survey of 400 respondents in selected 40 villages in Pandeglang District using stratified random sampling method. The results showed that: (1) socio-economic status did not significantly influence the vote buying experience among voters; (2) vote buying knowledge has negative effect to the vote buying experience; and (3) vote buying experience significantly influence voting behavior.
Keywords: Vote Buying, Voter Compliance, Voter Loyalty, Voting Behavior, Voting Behavior Model.
VOTE BUYING AND VOTING BEHAVIOR IN INDONESIAN LOCAL ELECTION: A CASE IN PANDEGLANG DISTRICT (Published)
Vote buying is one of the prominent phenomena in Indonesian politics today, especially since the direct election era of 2004. This study discusses the influence of vote buying on voting behavior, by taking case in the 2011 Banten Gubernatorial Election at Pandeglang District, Banten Province. The main research questions is: does vote buying have influence to the voting behavior? Quantitative approach with Structural Equation Model (SEM) method was applied to examine the relationship between vote buying and voting behavior. The data collection was done by a survey of 400 respondents in selected 40 villages in Pandeglang District using stratified random sampling method. The results showed that: (1) socio-economic status did not significantly influence the vote buying experience among voters; (2) vote buying knowledge has negative effect to the vote buying experience; and (3) vote buying experience significantly influence voting behavior
Keywords: Vote Buying, Voter Compliance, Voter Loyalty, Voting Behavior, Voting Behavior Model.