Almost 7 in 10 Adult Nigerians Are Certain Their Votes Will Count During The 2023 General Elections, New Poll Reveals.
Abuja, Nigeria. 5th July 2022 – A new public opinion poll conducted by NOIPolls has revealed that 69 percent of Adult Nigerians are certain their votes will count during the 2023 general elections mainly because they believe so (38 percent). Among other reasons given, 23 percent mentioned they will monitor their votes at their polling units, 10 percent stated it is because they trust the Independence National Electoral Commission (INEC) while another 10 percent stated that their votes will count because of the new electoral law.
The poll further revealed that 80 percent of Adult Nigerians nationwide claimed that they already have their Permanent Voters Cards (PVCs), 9 percent stated that they have registered but have not collected their PVCs, while 8 percent indicated willingness to register in time for the 2023 general elections. In addition, it is interesting to note that 93 percent of Adult Nigerians are looking forward to voting in the 2023 general elections.
More findings revealed that 58 percent of Nigerians believe that INEC will conduct free and fair general elections in 2023 mainly due to their previous performances (24 percent). With regards to the most important procedure INEC should put in place to ensure a free and fair election in the 2023 general elections, 27 percent disclosed that INEC should be transparent in all its electoral processes, while 23 percent recommended that INEC should ensure that more security agents are present in all polling units across the country. Other suggestions include efficient functionality of the Smart Card Readers (6 percent), banning vote buying (6 percent), ensuring early arrival of election materials (6 percent), and for INEC to make PVCs ready for collection, amongst other submissions.
These were the key findings from first in the series of the monthly Countdown to the 2023 general election polls conducted on the week commencing 27th June 2022.
Survey Background
The 2023 general elections are fast approaching as Nigeria is seven (7) months away from the elections proper. As Nigerians are getting ready for the 2023 general elections, many political activities and events are on-going in pursuit of various government positions. The active participation of all stakeholders in the political process remains one of the most important issues INEC insists on.
While the political parties strategize and campaign with the intention to win elections at various levels, Nigerians above 18 years are being mobilized to register and subsequently vote en mass.The ripple effect of this is seen in recent spike in Voter registration especially amongst youths. This is a paradigm shift from the norm, reducing voter apathy, with more Nigerians believing in the process and positive their votes will count. As the country moves towards the 2023 general elections, adequate preparation by INEC is important to ensure that the election is credible and free from irregularities.
Against this background, NOIPolls conducted its recent election series poll to seek the views of Nigerians regarding the 2023 general elections.
Survey Findings
The first question revealed that 80 percent of the respondents interviewed nationwide claimed that they have their PVCs, 9 percent stated that they have registered but have not collected their PVCs, while 8 percent indicated willingness to register in time for the 2023 general elections.
The poll results showed that 93 percent of the respondents expressed their enthusiasm in voting at the 2023 general elections, and this cuts across gender, geographical locations, and age-group with a minimum of 90 percent representation.
Subsequently, when asked if they are confident that INEC would conduct a free and fair election in 2023 general elections, 58 percent of the responents responded positively whereas, 42 percent stated otherwise. There were no significant difference across the age-group and gender for Nigerians who stated that INEC will conduct free and fair elections in 2023.
Furthermore, out of the 58 percent who stated that INEC will conduct free and fair elections in 2023, 24 percent mentioned that it is due to the commission’s previous performances. On the other hand, out of the 42 percent who said that INEC will not conduct a free and fair election, 44 percent disclosed that their reasons were mainly due to corruption within the commission.
When respondents were asked of the single most important procedure INEC should put in place to ensure a free and fair election, 27 percent mentioned that INEC should be transparent in the electoral processes. While 23 percent advocated for INEC to increase the number of security agents in their respective polling units, 7 percent is calling on INEC to be professional and independent. Other suggestions include efficient functionality of the smart card reader (6 percent), ban vote buying (6 percent), early arrival of election materials (6 percent), and also for INEC to make PVCs ready for collection amongst other submissions.
Consequently, it is gratifying to note that 69 percent of adult Nigerians nationwide acknowledged that their votes do count. The assertion cuts across gender, geopolitical zones, and age-group with a minimum of 61 percent representation. On the contrary, 31 percent claimed that their votes do not count and Nigerians residing in the North-Central zone had more proportions who made this assertion.
Out of the 69 percent who stated that their votes do count, 38 percent made the submission solely on the grounds that they believe that their votes indeed count. While 23 percent mentioned that they monitor their votes at the various polling units, 10 percent mentioned that they have trust in INEC hence their vote do count.
On the flip side, out of the 31 percent who do not believe that their votes do count, 60 percent said so mainly because they believe that elections are always rigged or manipulated. While 15 percent blame INEC for not letting their votes count, 13 percent feel that their votes do not count because they do not get who they supposedly voted for in the past.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the poll has revealed that 69 percent of adult Nigerians are certain that their votes will count during the 2023 generals. Also, findings from the poll indicated that 80 percent of adult Nigerians claimed that they already have their PVC, 9 percent alleged that they have registered but have not collected their PVCs while 8 percent have indicated willingness to register in time for the 2023 general elections.
More findings revealed that 58 percent of Nigerians believe that INEC will conduct a free and fair election come 2023 general elections mainly due to their previous performances (24 percent). With regards to the most important procedure INEC should put in place to ensure a free and fair election in the 2023 general elections, 27 percent disclosed that INEC should be transparent in all its electoral processes while 23 percent recommended that INEC should ensure that more security agents are present in all the polling units across the country. Finally, as the 2023 general elections draw near, Nigerians are patiently and curiously waiting to know the outcome of the elections as significant proportion of the population (93 percent) wants to exercise their civic duty as citizens of Nigeria.
Survey Methods
The opinion poll was conducted in the week commencing June 27th, 2022. It involved telephone interviews of a proportionate nationwide sample of 1,000 randomly selected phone-owning Nigerians aged 18 years and above, representing the six geopolitical regions and 36 states and the FCT of the country. Interviews were conducted in 5 languages – Igbo, Hausa, Yoruba, Pidgin English, and English. Although we can say with 95% confidence that the results obtained were statistically precise – within a margin of error of plus or minus 4.65%; we recognize that the exclusive use of telephone polling has its limitation of excluding non-phone-owning Nigerians. Nonetheless, with the country’s tele density put over 100 percent by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), we consider our telephone polling approach appropriate. Also, given the rigorous scientific process of randomization and stratification applied, we can confidently stand by the validity of our methodology and approach.
NOIPolls Limited, No1 for country-specific polling services in West Africa. We conduct periodic opinion polls and studies on various socio-economic and political issues in Nigeria. More information is available at www.noi-polls.com.
Disclaimer
This press release has been produced by NOIPolls Limited to provide information on all issues which form the subject matter of the document. Kindly note that while we are willing to share results from our polls with the public, we only request that NOIPolls be acknowledged as authors whenever and wherever our poll results are used, cited, or published. NOIPolls hereby certifies that all the views expressed in this document accurately reflect the views of respondents surveyed for the poll, and background information is based on information from various sources that it believes are reliable; however, no representation is made that it is accurate or complete. Whilst reasonable care has been taken in preparing this document, no responsibility or liability is accepted for errors or fact, or any views expressed herein by NOIPolls for actions taken because of information provided in this report. Any ratings, forecasts, estimates, opinions, or views herein constitute a judgment as at the date of this document. If the date of this document is not current, the views and content may not reflect NOIPolls’ current findings and/or thinking.
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