Two Decades of Electoral Democracy: Voter Apathy and Democratization Process in Nigeria

Voter apathy is a subdivision of political apathy and has become one of the foremost democracy quandaries especially in developing polities. Participation in politics is an important part of decision making in a democratic setting. Therefore, when voters do not come out to participate in voting, it dsefinitely impacts negatively on the electoral process and sometimes undermines the outcome of an election. It may mean that the majority who did not vote indirectly empowered the minority who voted to make decision on their behalf. This paper argues that the increasing manifestation of voter apathy in the last two decades of Nigeria's democracy leads to a poor democratization process and governance failures in the Nigerian project. It has promoted a condition in which individuals still remain more powerful than institutions. The paper employed documentary methods for data collection, while anchoring its discourses on the decision making theory as theoretical framework. The paper concludes that if the increasing level of voter apathy is not controlled in the country, it will continue to constitute a challenge to democratic consolidation in Nigeria. It recommends among other considerations that the Electoral Management Body (EMB) needs to critically inspire citizens through massive enlightenment and must restore trust and confidence in the electoral process by ensuring that people's verdicts are not thwarted by any means.