Abstract

Voters are essential to democracy, as they wield the authority to select government leaders through their choices during elections. Election in Nigeria is usually marred by issues that hinder the smoothness of the electoral and voting process, constituting a cause of dissatisfaction and anguish for voters. Relying on an extensive review of literature and secondary sources of data, this article exposes problems that frustrate Nigerian voters in making their political choices during elections and the implications of such challenges for democratic growth. The findings reveal that ecological factors, such as religion and ethnicity, institutional factors, such as electoral body, election logistics, the courts, and others, like electoral violence, political intimidation, etc., impede voters from making their preferred choices at the polls. It concludes that there is utmost need to sanitize the political space, through the appropriation of substantial political and economic issues, as against ethnic and religious sentiments that disadvantage some sections of voters, adequate preparation by the electoral regulatory body, impartiality of the court, the provision of sufficient security apparatus, to curb disenfranchisement and encourage voters to make their preferred choices at the polls.

Key words: Elections, Nigeria, electoral turnout, political choice, sustainable democracy, voter frustration.