Impact of Electoral Fraud in Nigeria
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Transcript of Impact of Electoral Fraud in Nigeria
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SULEIMAN MOHAMMED JAMIU
The Impact of
Electoral Fraud onNational Security
METHODS IN SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH
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l
Abstract
Elections in Nigeria are widely believed to be fraudulent in various ways,
a claim some support especially by looking at voter turnout, voter
registration and in extension post-election conflicts.
Nigeria since independence fifty years on has witnessed elections of
different forms which have always been characterized by electoral
fraud as observed by both local and international analysts. These
electoral frauds have often led to one form of conflict or the other
leading to insecurity in the nation.
This study is expected to address the major causes of electoral fraud, its
effect on national security and how to curb such.
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Introduction
Background of the study
In the fifty years of Nigeria as a nation, the dominant political system has
not been democracy. Owing to various reasons and failures on the part
of all stakeholders in the Nigerian project, attempts at enthroning and
sustaining democratic political system in the country have only lasted for
short periods of time. In addressing the challenge to the survival of
democracy in Nigeria, it is pertinent to consider security issues and
problems that have affected or capable of affecting the attitude,
confidence and cooperation of all groups and segments that makes up
the Nigerian federation. It is also necessary to explore the gaps and grey
areas in the national constitution that are responsible for various
problems and crises and how these gaps can be addressed. Some of
the major security problems currently confronting the nation have been
identified to include: political and electioneering conflicts, socio-
economic agitations, ethno-religious crises, ethnic militias, boundary
disputes, cultism, criminality and organised crimes. For the better part of
the fifty years of Nigeria as a nation, the country was under military
administration resulting from military takeover of the democratic and
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constitutional structures of the state. The military takeovers are security
breaches resulting from a wide range of reasons, sometimes a
culmination of a number of security and political developments. The
security, political and sometimes socio-economic developments are
security concerns that were not addressed or managed by the existing
state structure at the time.
Electoral fraud poses a major challenge to democracy in Nigeria and
by implication, poses threat to the security of the nation.
Electoral fraud is illegal interference with the process of an election
either consciously or unconsciously. In Nigeria elections have been
characterised by one form of electoral fraud or the other which have
led to one form of conflict or the other too.
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Statement of Problem
It is no longer news that electoral fraud is ravaging democracies of
mostly third world countries. Violence erupts following electoral fraud
and people are dying every day due to this. In Africa it has become all
the more worrisome because due to poverty and illiteracy among
others the crisis continues to deepen and thus having a devastating
effect on the continent.
Looking at this, there is particularly the need to understand why
electoral fraud is becoming widespread in Nigeria especially among the
elite. In addition what effect does it have on National security? Lastly
and importantly too, is the above not a threat to the nations interest
and by extrapolation her security.
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Aims and Objectives of study
The objectives are categirised into the general and specific objectives.
The general objective is aimed at appraising the forms of electoral
frauds in Nigeria from independence, while the specific objectives are
as follows;
a.Examine the electoral fraud associated with different governmentsin Nigeria and how they came to power.
b.Provide an understanding to why electoral frauds shape thesocieties of most third world countries.
c.Evaluate the impact of post-election violence on the nationd.Appraise the impact of electoral fraud on national security.
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Significance of study
This study is particularly significant in view of the need for both
understanding and curbing of the increasing rise in electoral fraud and
violence in Nigeria and its effect on national security. The significance of
this study can also be seen as contributing to the development of
knowledge within the scholarship of strategic studies.
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Research questions
1. Why are electoral frauds common in third world countries?2. What impact would it have on national security?3. Would we say that electoral fraud is part of politics?4. Lastly and importantly, how do we put an end to electoral fraud in
Nigeria?
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Theoretical framework
While it could be stated that there are different perspectives of viewing
the electoral process, either from a group, game or power perspectives
among others. The study through the use of the classical elite theory
unfolds the machinations and manipulations of political parties by the
elites. This theory is based on two ideas:
1. Power lies in position of authority in key economic and politicalinstitutions
2. The psychological difference that sets Elites apart is that they havepersonal resources, for instance intelligence and skills, and a
vested interest in the government; while the rest are incompetent
and do not have the capabilities of governing themselves; the elite
are resourceful and will strive to make the government to work. For
in reality, the elite have the most to lose in a failed government.
The major proponents of this theory include Vilfredo Pareto, Gaetano
Mosca, Robert Michels, C. Wright Mills and Floyd Hunter.
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Vilfredo Pareto
Pareto emphasized the psychological and intellectual superiority that
the Elites obtained, he believed that the elites were the highest
accomplishers in any field and he discussed how there were two types
of Elites
1. governing elites2. non-governing elites
He also extended on the idea that a whole elite can be replaced by a
new one and how one can circulate from being elite to nonelite.
Gaetano Mosca
Mosca emphasized the sociological and personal characteristics of
elites. He said elites are an organized minority and that the masses are
an unorganized majority. The ruling class is composed of the ruling elite
and the sub-elites. He divides the world into two groups:
1. ruling class2. class that is ruled
Mosca asserts that elites have intellectual, moral, and material
superiority that is highly esteemed and influential.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilfredo_Paretohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaetano_Moscahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaetano_Moscahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilfredo_Pareto -
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Robert Michels
Sociologist Michels developed the Iron Law of Oligarchy where, he
asserts, social and political organizations are run by few individuals, and
social organization and labor division are key. He believed that all
organizations were elitist and that elites have three basic principles that
help in the bureaucratic structure of political organization:
1. Need for leaders, specialized staff and facilities2. Utilization of facilities by leaders within their organization3. The importance of the psychological attributes of the leaders
C. Wright Mills
Mills published his bookThe Power Elite in 1956, claiming a new
sociological perspective on systems of power in the United States. He
identified a triumvirate of power groups - political, economic and
military - which form a distinguishable, although not unified, power-
wielding body in the United States.
Mills proposed that this group had been generated through a process of
rationalization at work in all advanced industrial societies whereby the
mechanisms of power became concentrated, funneling overall control
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Michelshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Law_of_Oligarchyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Wright_Millshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_Elitehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1956http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Power_Elitehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C._Wright_Millshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_Law_of_Oligarchyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Michels -
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into the hands of a limited, somewhat corrupt group. This reflected a
decline in politics as an arena for debate and relegation to a merely
formal level of discourse. This macro-scale analysis sought to point out
the degradation of democracy in "advanced" societies and the fact
that power generally lies outside the boundaries of elected
representatives. A main influence for the study was Franz Leopold
Neumann's book, Behemoth: The Structure and Practice of National
Socialism, 1933-1944, a study of how Nazism came to power in the
German democratic state. It provided the tools to analyze the structure
of a political system and served as a warning of what could happen in a
modern capitalistic democracy.
Floyd Hunter
The elite theory analysis of power was also applied on the micro scale in
community power studies such as that by Floyd Hunter(1953). Hunter
examined in detail the power relationships evident in his "Regional City"
looking for the "real" holders of power rather than those in obvious
official positions. He posited a structural-functional approach which
mapped the hierarchies and webs of interconnection operating within
the citymapping relationships of power between businessmen,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Leopold_Neumannhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Leopold_Neumannhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Floyd_Hunter&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural-functionalismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structural-functionalismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Floyd_Hunter&action=edit&redlink=1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Leopold_Neumannhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Leopold_Neumann -
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politicians, clergy etc. The study was promoted to debunk current
concepts of any democracy present within urban politics and reaffirm
the arguments for a true representative democracy.
This type of analysis was also used in later, larger scale, studies such as
that carried out by M. Schwartz examining the power structures within
the sphere of the corporate elite in the USA.
G. William Domhoff
In his controversial bookWho Rules America?, G. William Domhoff
researched local and national decision making process networks in
order to illustrate the power structure in the United States. He asserts,
much like Hunter, that an elite class that owns and manages large
income-producing properties (like banks and corporations) dominate
the American power structure politically and economically.
James Burnham
Burnhamsearly work The Managerial Revolution sought to express the
movement of all functional power into the hands of managers rather
than politicians or businessmenseparating ownership and control.
Many of these ideas were adapted by paleo conservatives Samuel T.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representative_democracyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Rules_America%3Fhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._William_Domhoffhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burnhamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burnhamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal-agent_problemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleoconservativeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleoconservativeshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principal-agent_problemhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Burnhamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G._William_Domhoffhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_Rules_America%3Fhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Representative_democracy -
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Francis and Paul Gottfried in their theories of the managerial state.
Burnham's thoughts on Elite Theory were elucidated more specifically in
his book The Machiavellians which discusses the thoughts of, among
others, Pareto, Mosca, and Michels; it is here that Burnham attempts a
scientific analysis of both elites and politics generally.
Robert D. Putnam
Putnam saw the development of technical and exclusive knowledge
among administrators and other specialist groups as a mechanism by
which power is stripped from the democratic process and slipped
sideways to the advisors and specialists influencing the decision making
process.
"If the dominant figures of the past hundred years have been the
entrepreneur, the businessman, and the industrial executive, the new
men are the scientists, the mathematicians, the economists, and the
engineers of the new intellectual technology."(Putnam, Robert D.(1976)).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francishttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gottfriedhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managerial_statehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Putnamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_processhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_makinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_makinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_makinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decision_makinghttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Democratic_processhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Putnamhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Managerial_statehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Gottfriedhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_T._Francis -
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Thomas R. Dye
Dye in his book Top Down Policymaking, argues that U.S. public policy
does not result from the "demands of the people," but rather from Elite
consensus found in Washington, D.C. based non-profit foundations, think
tanks, special-interest groups, and prominent lobbyists and law firms.
Dye's thesis is further expanded upon in his works: The Irony of
Democracy, Politics in America, Understanding Public Policy, and Who's
Running America?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_R._Dyehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_policyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elitismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_policyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_R._Dye -
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Scope and Limitations of the study
Though this study is to appraise the 2011 general election, a lot has to be
said about previous elections in Nigeria. This study is different from other
studies because it is one of the most current events in the country and its
appraisal will continue for a long time.
Like some studies, this research is constrained by mostly time. The
information was mostly gotten from the mass media as no books or
publications have been written or published on this research yet.
However, these limitations do not adversely affect the major findings of
this research.
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Methodology
For the success of this study, only one form of data collection was used.
This form of data collection known as the secondary method includes
the use of textbooks, magazines, internet, newspapers, journals and
documents collected from Independent national electoral commission
(INEC) and other agencies.
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Theoretical overview
Electoral Fraud
Electoral fraud desecrates the sanctity of democracy and weakens its
capacity as an instrument for the mobilisation of national, human and
material resources for the development of the people and the state
(Goodluck Jonathan 2011).
Electoral fraud poses a major challenge to democracy in Nigeria and
by implication, poses threat to the security of the nation.
If the government had allowed insecurity to prevail, it will be obvious
that it will undermine the integrity and credibility of the democratic
process and make life more difficult. The anger and frustration would
attain a worsening dimension due to the absence of proper and just
means of seeking redress. People will resort to violence and the
consequences of increased violence will be proportionate with the
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events that led to the collapse of the First Republic.
Given this conceptualization, it is not surprising that scholars usually
argue that the incidence of electoral fraud, which comes in the form of
political violence, vote-buying, influence, and various forms of
procedural vote rigging (Lehoucq 2003), is the product of political
actors efforts to tilt the electoral playingfield in their direction,
thereby aiming to reduce the
indeterminacy of elections. Electoral fraud violates what Dahl (1971)
defines as the two main criteria of democratic elections, fair (i.e.,
equal rights to have votes counted equally) and free (not subject to
intimidation, bribery, etc.) For amore thorough elaboration of the myriad
of issues at stake with these two criteria (free and fair) elections,
(Thompson 2002). There are several variants of this argument. In one
view, the more competitive elections are, the more likely electoral fraud
since the electoral stakes are higher for all participants (Lehoucq and
Molina 1999, 2002). In another important account, the relationship is not
so direct although the causal logic is similar: in some instances politicians
will commit election fraud even when elections are not close to
discourage future electoral competition (Simpser 2005). Finally, a third
perspective is that the relationship between electoral competition and
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electoral fraud is mediated by electoral institutions (Birch 2007; Chang
and Golden 2007; Hicken 2007). This research has found, for example,
that electoral manipulation ismore likely in majoritarian or plural single-
member systems than in proportional systems. It is correct to argue that
partisan motivations are present in fights over the outcomes of elections.
An explanation of electoral fraud that remains silent on the structural
conditions underpinning it, as well as the precise causal pathways
leading to fraud, is incomplete. Such an account fails to address who
the perpetrators of fraud actually are, how they overcome complex
collective
action problems entailed in committing fraud, and what actions they
deploy.
Thus, in addition to being attentive to how the strategic environment set
by elite competition and partisanship affect actors preferences, it is
crucial to highlight the societal contexts in which elite actors and
political institutions operate that may determine the capacity of elites to
carry out electoral fraud, one powerful mechanism of limiting
uncertainty over electoral outcomes (Alexander2002).
This position is attested to by recent social unrests in various African
countries that have roots in the failure of government policies to provide
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or manage the basic human needs of their citizens.
So, if electoral fraud is a serious challenge to the security of a nation, the
steps taken by President Jonathan so far are in the right direction.
Kidnapping is no longer attractive as government has continued to
match its promises with actions. In the Niger Delta and the South Eastern
part of Nigeria were the crime was prevalent, peace has returned and
everybody, whether foreign nationals or Nigerians are free to go about
their lawful duties without any form of harassment.
The crisis in Jos, Plateau State has been brought under control. The few
cases of attacks experienced these days are pockets of criminal
attacks. The ethnic dimension the crisis almost took at a time it started
has abated. There was also the spate of bomb blasts across the nation,
which most analysts attributed to those who are bent on frustrating the
good works of Jonathan. Thank God, the security agencies have since
arrested the trend. This all goes to show that the Jonathan administration
has done well, security-wise.
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Causes of Electoral Fraud
Electoral fraud which has been defined as the illegal interference with
the process of an election in order to affect the result of an election
has been an on-going thorny issue with respect to various political
campaigns for presidency and other offices in the federal and state
government thereby creating conflict in the democratic system.
Electoral fraud is not limited to political polls and can happen in any
election where the potential gain is worth the risk for the cheat; as in
elections for labour union officials, student councils, sports judging, and
the awarding of merit to books, films, music and television programmes.
Types of Electoral Fraud
The two main types of electoral fraud are: preventing eligible voters
from casting their vote freely (or voting at all) and altering the results.
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Though also called voter registration, intimidation at polls, improper vote
counting amidst several others.
These acts of fraud affect vote counts to bring about an election result,
whether by increasing the vote share of the favoured candidate,
depressing the vote share of the rival candidates or both.
Electoral fraud varies from country to country. Many kinds of voters
fraud are outlawed in electoral legislation but others are in violation of
general laws such as those banning assault, harassment or libel.
Although technically, the term electoral fraud covers only those acts
which are illegal, the term is sometimes used to describe acts which are
illegal, the term is sometimes used to describe acts which although
legal, are considered to be morally unacceptable, outside the spirit of
electoral laws or in violation of the principles of democracy. Elections, in
which only one candidate can win, are sometimes considered to be
electoral fraud although they may comply with the law.
In national elections, successful electoral fraud can have the effect of a
coup dtat or corruption of democracy because it may change the
result in favour of the losing candidate. Likewise in a narrow election, a
small amount of fraud may be enough to change the result. In a
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situation where the result is not affected it can still have a damaging
effect on the body polity because if it goes unpunished, it can reduce
voters confidence in the democratic process. Surprisingly, even the
perception of fraud can be damaging as it makes people less inclined
to accept election results, this can in turn lead to a breakdown of
democracy and the establishment of a dictatorship.
Methods of electoral fraud
Electorate manipulation
Most electoral fraud takes place during or immediately after election
campaigns, by interfering with the voting process or the counting of
votes. However it can also occur far in advance, by altering the
composition of the electorate. In many cases this is not illegal and thus
technically not electoral fraud, although it is sometimes considered to
be a violation of principles of democracy.
Gerrymandering
This is the drawing of electorate boundaries in order to produce a
particular result. Typically, electorates will be organized so that one
group of people (for example poor people or a particular ethnic or
religious group) is concentrated into a small number of electorates. This
means that parties favoured by that group will win by a large majority in
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those electorates, but lose more narrowly in a larger number of
electorates. This may result in one party gaining the most votes overall
but still losing the election. Gerrymandering is most common under
plurality voting systems, in which the winner must win the most
electorates rather than the most votes overall.
In many cases gerrymandering occurs within, or is the result of, electoral
law. However it may sometimes take the form of true electoral fraud, for
example if laws governing the drawing of electoral boundaries are
broken, or officials are bribed or otherwise coerced into altering
boundaries in a way which favours a particular group.
Manipulation of demography
In many cases it is possible for authorities to artificially control the
composition of an electorate in order to produce a foregone result. One
way of doing this is to move a large number of voters into the electorate
prior to an election, for example by temporarily assigning them land or
lodging them in flophouses. Many countries prevent this with rules
stipulating that a voter must have lived in an electorate for a minimum
period (for example, six months) in order to be eligible to vote there.
However, such laws can themselves be used for demographic
manipulation as they tend to disenfranchise those with no fixed address,
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such as the homeless, travellers, students (studying full time away from
home) and some casual workers.
Another strategy is to permanently move people into an electorate,
usually through public housing. If people eligible for public housing are
likely to vote for a particular party, then they can either be
concentrated into one electorate, thus making their votes count for less,
or moved into marginal electorates, where they may tip the balance
towards their preferred party. One notable example of this occurred in
the City of Westminster under Shirley Porter. In this case the electoral
fraud relied on gaming the United Kingdom's first past the post electoral
system, as in such a system it does not matter how much a party wins or
loses by. The fraudsters calculated which wards they had no hope of
winning, which they were sure of winning and which wards were
marginal. By manipulating Westminster Council's public housing stock
the fraudsters were able to move voters more likely to vote for their
electoral enemies from marginal wards to the wards that they were
going to lose anyway. In the ensuing elections the opposition could only
win their safe seats with the small Conservative leads in the marginal
wards being enough for them to win these wards, and therefore
maintain their majority position and control of the council. In her
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defence Porter raised the history of the provision of public housing in
London and the context of Herbert Morrison's boast to "...build the
Conservatives out of London" by building new public housing in
marginal Conservative seats.
Immigration law may also be used to manipulate electoral
demography. An example of this happened in Malaysia when
immigrants from neighbouring Philippines and Indonesia were given
citizenship together with voting rights in order for a political party to
"dominate" the state of Sabah in a controversial process referred to as
Project IC.
A method of manipulating primary contests and other elections of party
leaders is related to this. People who support one party may temporarily
join another party in order to help elect a weak candidate for that
party's leadership, in the hope that they will be defeated by the leader
of the party that they secretly support.
Disenfranchisement
The composition of an electorate may also be altered by
disenfranchising some types of people, rendering them unable to vote.
In some cases this may be done at a legislative level, for example by
passing a law banning convicted felons, recent immigrants or members
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of a particular ethnic or religious group from voting, or by instituting a
literacy or other test which members of some groups are more likely to
fail. Since this is done by lawmakers, it cannot be election fraud, but
may subvert the purposes of democracy. This is especially so if members
of the disenfranchised group were particularly likely to vote a certain
way.
In some cases voters may be invalidly disenfranchised, which is true
electoral fraud. For example a legitimate voter may be 'accidentally'
removed from the electoral roll, making it difficult or impossible for them
to vote. Corrupt election officials may misuse voting regulations such as
a literacy test or requirement for proof of identity or address in such a
way as to make it difficult or impossible for their targets to cast a vote.
Groups may also be disenfranchised by rules which make it impractical
or impossible for them to cast a vote. For example, requiring people to
vote within their electorate may disenfranchise serving military
personnel, prison inmates, students, hospital patients or anyone else who
cannot return to their homes. Polling can be set for inconvenient days
such as midweek or on Holy Days (example: Sabbath or other holy days
of a religious group whose teachings determine that voting is a
prohibited on such a day) in order to make voting difficult for those
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studying or working away from home. Communities may also be
effectively disenfranchised if polling places are not provided within
reasonable proximity (rural communities are especially vulnerable to
this) or situated in areas perceived by some voters as unsafe.
Intimidation
Voter intimidation involves putting undue pressure on a voter or group of
voters so that they will vote a particular way, or not at all. Absentee and
other remote voting can be more open to some forms of intimidation as
the voter does not have the protection and privacy of the polling
location. Intimidation can take a range of forms.
Violence or the threat of violence: In its simplest form, voters from a
particular demographic or known to support a particular party or
candidate are directly threatened by supporters of another party or
candidate or those hired by them. In other cases supporters of a
particular party make it known that if a particular village or
neighbourhood is found to have voted the 'wrong' way, reprisals will be
made against that community. Another method is to make a general
threat of violence, for example a bomb threat in Niger state which has
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the effect of closing a particular polling place, thus making it difficult for
people in that area to vote.
Attacks on polling places: Polling places in an area known to support a
particular party or candidate may be targeted for vandalism,
destruction or threats, thus making it difficult or impossible for people in
that area to vote.
Legal threats: In this case voters will be made to believe, accurately or
otherwise, that they are not legally entitled to vote, or that they are
legally obliged to vote a particular way. Voters who are not confident
about their entitlement to vote may also be intimidated by real or
implied authority figures who suggest that those who vote when they
are not entitled to will be imprisoned, deported or otherwise punished.
Economic threats: In company towns in which one company employs
most of the working population, the company may threaten workers
with disciplinary action if they do not vote the way their employer
dictates. One method of doing this is the 'shoe polish method'. This
method entails coating the voting machine's lever or button of the
opposing candidate(s) with shoe polish. This method works when an
employee of a company that orders him to vote a certain way votes
contrary to those orders. After the voter exits the voting booth, a
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conspirator to the fraud (a precinct captain or other local person in
collusion with the employee's management) handshakes the voter. The
conspirator, then, subtly checks the voter's hands for any shoe polish or
notes. If the conspirator finds shoe polish or notes in the voter's hands,
then that unfortunate voter gets fired or faces other unpleasant
consequences.
Vote buying
The most famous episodes of vote buying came in 18th century
England, when two or more rich aristocrats spent whatever money it
took to win. The notorious "Spendthrift election" came in
Northamptonshire in 1768, when three earls spent over100,000 each to
win a seat.
Voters may be given money or other rewards for voting in a particular
way, or not voting. In some jurisdictions, the offer or giving of other
rewards is referred to as "electoral treating". In Mexico, Queensland and
several other places, voters willing to sell their vote are asked to take a
picture of their ballot with a cell phone camera to validate their
payment. Vote buying may also be done indirectly, for example by
paying clergymen to tell their parishioners to vote for a particular party
or candidate. Vote buying is generally avoided by not providing a
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"receipt" for the counted vote, even if it's technically possible to do so.
Considering the level of poverty in the country, vote buying was
prominent in Nigeria where people were willing to sell their voting rights
for money. With the advent of closed ballot system though, voters are
now free to collect money from Mr A and eventually vote for Mr B.
Misinformation
People may distribute false or misleading information in order to affect
the outcome of the election. Most commonly, smear campaigns (the
circulation of false rumours) are made against a particular candidate or
party. An example was the rumours spread via text messages by
opposition that Rochas Okorocha of APGA was disqualified from voting
by INEC. Smear campaigns are not necessarily illegal and can therefore
not always be considered election fraud. However in some countries
smear campaigns may violate libel or slander laws and in others, as the
Philippines, such campaigns are specifically illegal.
Another way in which misinformation can be used in voter fraud is to
give voters incorrect information about the time or place of polling, thus
causing them to miss their chance to vote.
Misleading or confusing ballot papers
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Ballot papers may be used to discourage votes for a particular party or
candidate, using design or other features which confuse voters into
voting for a different candidate. For example, in the United States
presidential election, 2000, Florida's butterfly ballot paper was criticised
as confusing some voters into giving their vote to the wrong candidate.
Ironically, however, the ballot was designed by a Democrat, the party
most harmed by this design. Poor or misleading design is not usually
illegal and therefore not technically election fraud, but can subvert the
principles of democracy.
Another method of confusing people into voting for the wrong
candidate is to run candidates or create political parties with similar
names or symbols as an existing candidate or party. The aim is that
enough voters will be misled into voting for the false candidate or party
to influence the results. Such tactics may be particularly effective when
a large proportion of voters have limited literacy in the language used
on the ballot paper. Again, such tactics are usually not illegal but often
work against the principles of democracy.
Ballot stuffing
Ballot stuffing is the most common form of electoral fraud used in
Nigeria, it occurs when a person casts more votes than they are entitled
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to. In its simplest form, ballot stuffing literally involves 'stuffing' multiple
ballot papers into the ballot box. Another method is for voters to cast
votes at multiple booths, on each occasion claiming that it is their only
vote. In some countries such as Nigeria, India, El Salvador, Namibia or
Afghanistan voters get a finger marked with election ink to prevent
multiple votes. In Afghanistan's elections of 2005, this method failed as
the ink used could easily be removed.
A more subtle technique is personation, in which a person pretends to
be someone else. The person whose vote is being used may be
legitimately enrolled but absent, a real but deceased person, or entirely
fictitious. A particularly unsubtle form of ballot stuffing, known as booth
capturing occurs in Nigeria. In these cases a gang of thugs will 'capture'
a polling place and cast votes in the names of legitimate voters, who
are prevented from voting themselves.
In jurisdictions with absentee balloting, an individual or a campaign may
fill in and forge a signature on an absentee ballot intended for a voter in
that jurisdiction, thus passing off the ballot as having been filled out by
that voter. Such cases of voter fraud have resulted in criminal charges in
the past.
Misrecording of votes
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These people, unknown to the voter, then cast the vote for the party of
their choice. This trick relies on elderly care home residents typically
being absent-minded, or suffering from dementia. In the United
Kingdom, this is known as 'granny farming' and has been restricted in
recent years by a change in the law which prevents a single voter
acting as a proxy for more than two non-family members therefore
requiring more people to be involved in any fraud.
Destruction or invalidation of ballots
One of the simplest methods of electoral fraud is to simply destroy
ballots for the 'wrong' candidate or party. This is unusual in functioning
democracies as it is difficult to do without attracting attention. However
in a very close election it might be possible to destroy a very small
number of ballot papers without detection, thereby changing the
overall result. Blatant destruction of ballot papers can render an election
invalid and force it to be re-run. If a party can improve its vote on the re-
run election, it can benefit from such destruction as long as it is not
linked to it.
A more subtle, and easily achieved, method is to make it appear that
the voter has spoiled their ballot thus rendering it invalid. Typically this
would be done by adding an additional mark to the paper, making it
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appear that the voter has voted for more candidates than they were
entitled to. It would be difficult to do this to a large number of papers
without detection, but in a close election may prove decisive.
National security
There is a single universally accepted definition of "National Security". A
typical dictionary definition, in this case from Farlex dictionary, defines
national security as the following:
"The requirement to maintain the survival of the nation-state through the
use of economic, military and political power and the exercise of
diplomacy."
However, a variety of definitions provide an overview of the many
usages of this concept. The concept still remains ambiguous, having
originated from simpler definitions which initially emphasised the
freedom from military threat and political coercion to later increase in
sophistication and include other forms of non-military security as suited
the circumstances of the time.
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Walter Lippmann gave one of the early definitions in 1943 in terms of a
nation and war:
"A nation has national security when it does not have to resort to war, or
the threat of war, to preserve its legitimate interests."
A later definition by Harold Lasswell, a political scientist, in 1950, looks at
national security from almost the same aspect, that of external
coercion:
"The distinctive meaning of national security means freedom from
foreign dictation."
Arnold Wolfers (1960), while recognising the need to segregate the
subjectivity of the conceptual idea from the objectivity, talks of threats
to acquired values:
"An ambiguous symbol meaning different things to different people.
National security objectively means the absence of threats to acquired
values and subjectively, the absence of fear that such values will be
attacked."
Harold Brown, U.S. Secretary of Defense from 1977 to 1981 in the Carter
administration, defined national security in his 1983 book Thinking about
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Lippmannhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Lasswellhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coercionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Brown_(Secretary_of_Defense)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_Defensehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Jimmy_Carterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Jimmy_Carterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Jimmy_Carterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidency_of_Jimmy_Carterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Secretary_of_Defensehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Brown_(Secretary_of_Defense)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coercionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Lasswellhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Lippmann -
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national security:defense and foreign policy in a dangerous world. The
definition includes elements such as economic security and
environmental security.
"National security then is the ability to preserve the nation's physical
integrity and territory; to maintain its economic relations with the rest of
the world on reasonable terms; to preserve its nature, institution, and
governance from disruption from outside; and to control its borders."
In Harvard history professor Charles Maier's definition of 1990, national
security is defined through the lens of national power:
"National security... is best described as a capacity to control those
domestic and foreign conditions that the public opinion of a given
community believes necessary to enjoy its own self-determination or
autonomy, prosperity and wellbeing."
The United States Armed Forces defines national security (of the United
States) in the following manner:
National securityA collective term encompassing both national
defense and foreign relations of the United States. Specifically, the
condition provided by:
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be gravely affected since no investor puts his/her money in an
environment of crisis. More so, the citizens can only exert their best
potentials in the right peaceful environment (Ibrahim Sodandi 2010).
National security is the requirement to maintain the survival of the state
through the use of economic, military and political powerand the
exercise of diplomacy. The concept developed mostly in the United
States of America afterWorld War II. Initially focusing on military might, it
now encompasses a broad range of facets, all of which impinge on the
military or economic security of the nation and the values espoused by
the national society. Accordingly, in order to possess national security, a
nation needs to possess economic security, energy security,
environmental security, etc. Security threats involve not only
conventional foes such as othernation-states but also non-state actors
such as violent non-state actors, narcotic cartels, multinational
corporations and non-governmental organisations; some authorities
include natural disasters and events causing severe environmental
damage in this category.
Measures taken to ensure national security include:
using diplomacy to rally allies and isolate threats
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_(polity)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_powerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_projectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_powerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_Americahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_Americahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation-statehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violent_non-state_actorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_corporationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_corporationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organisationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_disasterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_disasterhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-governmental_organisationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_corporationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multinational_corporationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violent_non-state_actorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nation-statehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_IIhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_Americahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_of_Americahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomacyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_powerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_projectionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_powerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_(polity) -
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marshalling economic power to facilitate or compel cooperation
maintaining effective armed forces
implementing civil defense and emergency preparedness measures
(including anti-terrorism legislation)
ensuring the resilience and redundancy of critical infrastructure
using intelligence services to detect and defeat or avoid threats and
espionage, and to protect classified information
using counterintelligence services orsecret police to protect the
nation from internal threats
Under military rule in Nigeria, international investors and even tourists
were scarce and most governments, especially that of United States of
America and United Kingdom always warned their citizens of the
imminent danger in investing in Nigeria or even visiting.
All these, however, have changed with the advent of democracy, and
recently more traffic of investors and tourists are flooding Nigeria. This is a
big testimony to the effective national security policy of this
government.
When votes count, then, security risk and electoral violence will
gradually decline. This is the case even though Nigeria witnessed
increasing security problems and developments that constituted threats
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and problems that have affected or capable of affecting the attitude,
confidence and cooperation of all groups and segments that make up
the Nigerian federation. Thus, there is need to explore and address the
grey areas in the constitution that are responsible for various problems.
The Jonathan administration and General Owoeye Azazi at the apex of
the security agencies have identified the issues to include: political and
electioneering conflicts, socio-economic agitations, ethno-religious
crises, ethnic militias, boundary disputes, cultism, criminality and
organised crimes. These problems constitute threats to the peace,
security and development of the country and do have implications for
the continuity and survival of democracy. It is a welcome development
now that democracy is being deliberately constructed as a positive
response to these problems.
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Conclusion
Time and again, attempts to defraud voters, candidates and political
parties of the proper results of a genuine election are unearthed.
Unfortunately, the federal government today is generally ill-prepared to
overcome the fraud challenge. The single most important omission is the
electoral fraud control plan. The sooner federal government is willing to
recognize that their own systems can also be exposed to electoral
fraud, and develop and implement such a plan, the sooner they can
ensure that the outcomes of their elections express the will of the
electorate.
Technical assistance provided must strengthen their abilities to match
this new focus on combating electoral fraud. Electoral fraud experts
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should be available and training programs for officials on electoral fraud
should be developed, especially on how to conduct fraud assessments
and develop electoral fraud control plans.
Political parties and domestic and international observer missions all
perform important anti-fraud functions. However, this has shown that
they currently do not excel in their tasks to detect and deter electoral
fraud. Only by improving how they operate and becoming more
professional will they fulfill these important functions.
Donors need to upgrade the fight against electoral fraud to the
strategic-level in their democracy and governance portfolios by
introducing anti-fraud activities among their aid program indicators.
Such a decision would send a strong and clear message to all actors on
the electoral scene that fraud is no longer acceptable.
Nigeria since independence fifty years on has witnessed elections of
different forms which have always been characterized by electoral
fraud as observed by both local and international analysts. These
electoral frauds have often led to one form of conflict or the other
leading to insecurity in the nation.
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THE IMPACT OF ELECTORAL FRAUD ON NATIONAL SECURITY]Prentice Hall.
Schwartz, M. (ed.) (1987). The Structure of Power in America: The Corporate Elite as a
Ruling Class. New York: Holmes & Meier.
Taylor, Gen Maxwell (1974). "The Legitimate Claims of National Security". Foreign
Affairs (Council on Foreign Relations, Inc.) (Essay of 1974).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Taylorhttp://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/24508/maxwell-d-taylor/the-legitimate-claims-of-national-securityhttp://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/24508/maxwell-d-taylor/the-legitimate-claims-of-national-securityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell_Taylor