The Dynamics of Party Politics and Electoral Competition in the 2019 General Elections in Nigeria

Abstract

The 2019 General Elections was the first to be conducted after the All Progressives Congress came to power. This paper reviews the role of political parties in the 2019 General Elections. The objective is to examine how the conducts of the parties served to further consolidate or undermine the conduct of the elections. Through a qualitative research design and thematic content analysis, the paper utilizes ‘weak institutional approach’ to pursue its objective. The paper finds that there has been some level of appreciable progress in the areas electoral reforms resulting in competitive elections and improved citizens’ consciousness, as a result of appreciable trust in the electoral process. However, the paper further established that these seeming progresses have been diminished by the overwhelming display of wanton disrespect for democratic ethos through the stifling of internal party democracy, monetization of the electoral process, poor campaign messages and the rise of hate speech and disinformation. The paper recommends among others, the establishment of Political Party Monitoring Commission in line with the recommendation of the Uwais Electoral Reform Committee.