Ethnicity and Voting Behavior in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic: an Appraisal

Abstract: The paper observed that voting behaviors of individuals in elections are influenced by some factors such as issues, political party identification, ethnic cleavage, personality of the contestants, and social class of the contestants. In Nigerian context, the work tried to unravel the one that took precedence during the elections in the Fourth Republic. As a result, the study is designed to interrogate the influence of ethnicity on the voting behavior of Nigerians in the period under investigation. We gathered our data from secondary source through Documentary method and analyzed same with Content Analysis. Theoretically, the study utilised Political Economy as the theoretical framework of analysis. The theory informed among others that the propelling force of human actions in our terrestrial existence is the provision of human’s economic needs. From the study, we found that many factors, including ethnicity contributed to the winnings of elections in the Fourth Republic. However, we suggested that the electorate should focus more on the personality of the contestant, by voting based on the ability of the contestants. This will be the best way to select a development-driven leader who can practically engage on even dispensation of dividends of democracy to the people in the polity.

Keywords: Elections, Ethnicity, First Republic, Political Parties, Voting Behavior