Policy brief: Trust in elections in Nigeria

How much do Nigerians trust their elections? Right after the 2023 general election DPCR scholars Annekatrin Deglow and Hanne Fjelde asked 2,800 citizens across 5 Nigerian states what they think about different electoral security providers, as well as their experiences with electoral irregularities and violence. They also mapped how partisanship and education shape these views.

Their new policy brief, co-authored with Viktor Gånheim and Nicholas Kerr, highlights three key findings:

• Nigerians across the surveyed states have significant experience with election violence and malpractices — with opposition party supporters and the well-educated reporting higher exposure.

• More than half of the people they talked to report low levels of trust in the election — this number is higher for opposition party supporters and individuals with tertiary education.
  
  
• Nigerians have more positive evaluations of electoral security provision by state security forces compared to non-state security providers — with a substantial proportion of respondents perceiving that both actors are biased and act on behalf of the government.