The 2019 General Election and the Transparency Question in Nigeria: Political Party Financing As the Bane of Youth Participation

Election is perceived as the most peaceful means of power transfer in a democratic setting. It enables for competitive struggles to secure power in a prescribed rule of the game constitutionally. Nigeria is a democratic state currently undergoing its longest democratic transition unprecedented in the history of the country where six consecutive uninterrupted General Elections were conducted. However, the major issue of concern with Nigeria’s democratisation is youth participation and exclusion from politics. A major factor behind the marginalisation of youth is linked to the transparency question in terms of party financing and money politics. This study examined critically how the process of party financing excluded Nigeria’s youth from participating in the 2019 General Election. The study used a qualitative case study method. Data were gathered from primary and secondary sources. The primary sources included an in-depth interview with relevant stakeholders in the field, direct participant observation and consultation of government’s primary documents. The secondary sources were books, journals, newspapers, reports from organisations and agencies and internet sources. The data collected were discussed and interpreted using statistical techniques of tables, charts and a model. The work discovered that youth were barred from participating in Nigeria’s 2019 General Election in terms of contesting and winning of elective seats emanating from heavy use of money in party financing and campaign expenditure. The study thus, recommends that the viable alternative for youth to participate in Nigerian politics actively is to establish parties and lower the cost of obtaining party nomination and contest.

Political finance regimes and party system size: evidence from new and established European democracies

Studies of party system size have looked at institutional and sociological factors in their attempt to explain what determines the number of parties. While some recent studies contend that party laws, beyond the district magnitude, have a significant impact on, among others, new party entry, we know very little about whether certain rules matter more in some societies than they do in others. In this paper, we study the extent to which various party finance rules affect party system size and differentiate the effect between new and established democracies. Specifically, we focus on direct and indirect public subsidization and limits on private donation and campaign expenditure. We hypothesize that compared to established countries, new democracies tend to have a larger party system size when the political finance rules create more equal conditions for electoral competition. Using data from 43 Europe democracies, the empirical analyses support our hypothesis.

Sources of political parties’ campaign expenditure in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic: Examining the 2015 General Election

A periodic election is a fundamental pillar and backbone of any democratic regime, and for a proper election to take place there must be some activities, most especially by parties and contestants to vote for them most especially competing to secure the electorates. These activities require huge expenditure from the parties and their financiers through campaigns, media advertisements and other related activities. The problem is that parties and their candidates are allowed, in Nigeria constitutionally and by the Electoral Act 2010, to source their campaign finance privately, which has led to illegal financing. The objective of this paper is to examine the sources of parties’ campaign expenditure in the Fourth Republic, taking the 2015 General Election as the case study. The research used a qualitative method of data collection and analysis where both primary and secondary sources were used. The primary source was an in-depth personal interview with some selected informants/participants from the categories of stakeholders in the electoral process, parties, and agencies responsible for regulating their activities. The secondary source was the use of available documents such as books, journals and Internet sources on the subject matter of the study. The data obtained were analysed and interpreted using thematic analytical interpretations from the informants’ views and the existing data in the field. The research discovered that there are basically six major sources of campaign expenditure for parties and that some of the sources are illegal and the spending has violated the regulations. The research recommends thorough supervision and monitoring of the sources of parties’ campaign expenditure and the spending process.

Indonesia will likely see heated post-poll disputation

Significance The presidential contest between incumbent Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo and challenger Prabowo Subianto has seen lacklustre campaigning on both sides. The legislative poll involves 16 parties competing nationally. Impacts Increased government spending since January and overall campaign expenditure will boost economic growth this year. The military leadership will continue playing a substantial role in future cabinets regardless of which presidential candidate wins. The increased vote threshold for representation will reduce the number of parties in the People’s Representative Council.

Do Money, Power, Family and Connections Really Matter in Politics? Analysing Factors of Success in the 2010, 2013 and 2016 Philippine Senatorial Elections

Myriad debates in electoral politics have drawn attention to the importance of and risks to genuine democracy brought about by factors such as campaign spending, incumbency, political party affiliation and political dynasties. However, only a few studies utilize integrative and multivariate approaches to understanding the contribution of these factors, and this is even rarer for studies on the Philippines of recent times, despite its being among the first and most vibrant democracies in Asia. Examining the relationships to senatorial candidates' total number of votes for the 2010, 2013 and 2016 elections findings reveal overall that total campaign expenditure has a very significant relationship with the number of votes, this being consistent for all of the elections covered by the study. Thus money matters a lot – even when compared with the traditionally highly regarded factors such as incumbency, political dynasty and membership to political parties. This article discusses the results in relation to the socio-political context of the Philippines and provides additional insights and implications of the findings.

PRODUÇÃO LEGISLATIVA, GASTOS DE CAMPANHA E DESEMPENHO ELEITORAL: EVIDÊNCIAS A PARTIR DE UM ESTUDO DE CASO / LEGISLATIVE PRODUCTION, CAMPAIGN EXPENDITURE AND ELECTORAL PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM A CASE STUDY

Quais fatores explicam o desempenho eleitoral? Este artigo analisa o impacto da produção legislativa e dos gastos de campanha sobre a quantidade de votos recebido pelos vereadores do Recife nas eleições municipais de 2016. Testa-se duas hipóteses: 1) quanto maior a produção legislativa maior o número de votos e 2) quanto maior o gasto de campanha, maior a quantidade de votos. O desenho de pesquisa examina um banco de dados original elaborado a partir de informações secundárias coletadas nos sites da Câmara do Recife e do Tribunal Regional Eleitoral de Pernambuco. Os resultados indicam que, ao se considerar todos os casos (n=37), o modelo de regressão apresenta um ajuste de 0,456. No entanto, após a exclusão de um outlier, temos um r²=0,081, o que significa que as variáveis não explicam satisfatoriamente o desempenho eleitoral. Em termos substantivos, os resultados indicam que a performance eleitoral dos vereadores não é afetada pela produção legislativa formal nem pelo gasto de campanha.

ERRATUM

The interpretation of coefficients reported in Tables 2 and 3 of this article is incorrect. Whereas the text discusses the impact of a $1.00 change in local campaign expenditure on the vote share going to a candidate, the impact described actually corresponds to a $100 change in spending. This error results in a considerable over-estimate in the discussion of the impact of such spending. The author is grateful to Fred Cutler (University of British Columbia) for pointing out this error.