The 2023 elections have come and gone. Yes, aggrieved candidates will go to court and all that. But the elections are over, winners have emerged, and certificates of return have been issued. Life will continue. The elections were not perfect. At all. There was violence, voter suppression, intimidation, and so much that makes me wonder if we were too gullible to believe that election could be hitch-free in a country such as ours.
However, for the sake of our sanity, it is good that we try to also analyse what went right. Let us see some positives in the elections that could make you hopeful that if we indeed decide that things should work smoothly, they will.
Technology can work properly if we want it to
It was quite convenient that the irev portal was down and results couldn’t be uploaded on the 25th of February. Quite convenient. But one positive is that on the day that Nigeria decides that technology will be deployed nationwide to conduct elections, that can happen. It did not work on the 25th of February, but on the 18th of March, many results were uploaded. Even though most of the results were not uploaded from polling stations, which paints a dent in their authenticity, you could say that is proof that if we actually want results to be uploaded, they can be.
Widespread Political Participation
The outcome of the elections does not give the true picture of how many people participated in the voting process. We can decide to lie to ourselves that the numbers presented were factual and that this is the lowest turnout since our democracy. But the truth is the turnout was massive for the presidential elections. Maybe too massive, that it became a problem. How dare Nigerians come out in such large numbers! Apathy was so low, which is good for democracy. The more people get involved in politics, the more politicians will take their jobs seriously.
Surprise Wins
It was not business as usual for some heavy-weight politicians. Yes, many of them retained their seats as expected. But in a few places, average persons, hitherto unknown, political featherweights, won house of assembly seats. Some won riding on the back of a certain presidential candidate, and some did because their people were just fed up with the status quo. Regardless, this is proof if the electorates’ votes do count, the average man can venture into politics and stand a chance.
Another positive is that the country is not burning to the ground. Even though there is violence which we can’t downplay, there is peace in most places. We are grateful for that and are hopeful that in years to come we can get things right.
