Sixty-nine percent of Nigerians are of the opinion that many political parties are needed for the electorate to have real choices in who governs them, according to a survey conducted by Afrobarometer, a pan-African research network.
The results of the poll carried out in collaboration with NOIPolls and CDD-Ghana were published on Thursday in a report titled ‘Nigerians want competitive elections but don’t trust the electoral commission’.
Conversely, the survey found that 29 percent believed political parties create division and confusion and that it is unnecessary to have many political parties in Nigeria.
It also indicated that 23 percent of Nigerians trust the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), while 78 percent expressed “just a little” or no trust at all in the Commission.
Among its other findings were that 71 percent support elections as the best way to choose their leaders.
“A similarly clear majority (69%) say Nigeria needs many political parties to ensure that voters have a real choice, a 13-percentage-point rebound from 2020.
“More than three-fourths (78%) of respondents say that once an election is over, the losing side should accept defeat and cooperate with the government to help it
develop the country, rather than monitoring and criticising it.
“A majority (56%) of respondents say the last national election, in 2019, was generally free and fair, but almost four in 10 (38%) believe otherwise.
“Trust in the INEC has declined by 12 percentage points since 2017,” the report stated.
