ELECTORAL ACT 2022, NIGERIA’S GENERAL ELECTIONS 2023 AND THE ROLE OF THE MEDIA

Abstract

A major determinant of democracy is the electoral process that provides the electorate the institutional framework for choosing representatives through a competitive free and fair election. It is accepted universally, that a credible election is the heart of a representative democracy because a credible election not only confers legitimacy on political leadership, it is also crucial to the sustenance of democratic order. There are many players in the electoral process in Nigeria including the Independent National Election Commission, the judiciary, the security agencies as well as the media. The media plays an important role in determining how free and fair the electoral process is in practice. It is common knowledge that the 2022 Electoral Act made some salient innovations that would afford great benefits to the Nigerian electoral process and that the extent to which these salient innovations will positively impact on the electoral process is dependent on the activities of the aforementioned players in the electoral process especially the media. It is against this background that this work examined the role of the media in bringing the innovations made by the 2022 Electoral act to bear in the 2023 election. The work found that if the media identifies its responsibility and work sincerely and honestly towards achieving same, then it can serve as a great force in fostering a credible election in 2023 and beyond.