ABSTRACT

The study looks into the security implications of electoral violence on democratic development in Nigeria from the people's perspective and the wider consequences for electoral integrity and governance. According to the data, 64.6 percent of respondents think that there is a high level of violence during elections and 74.8 percent noticed an increase in violence in recent electoral cycles. Furthermore, 68.9per cent consider electoral violence to be more prevalent in particular areas, reflecting the wide public perception of this issue's regional concentration. Its findings emphasize the negative implications of electoral violence on electoral security by showing that electoral violence threatens voter safety with an extremely substantial threat to 85.0 percent of the respondents and that voting is insecure for 65.0 percent of the respondents. But these perceptions are also connected to broader democratic concerns, as 80.1 percent of respondents argue that electoral violence undermines democratic institutions, erodes the public's trust and hinders the progress of a solid and peaceful democratic society. Second, the study examines roles of socio demographic that is, age, marital status, and geographical origin in perception of electoral violence. Individuals aged younger, respondents from South West report higher levels of violence, and married people and respondents from North East report less they perceive high trends of violence. Age and marital status turn out to be significant predictors of experiences of electoral violence through logistic regression analysis. However, in this study, political corruption, ethnic tensions, inadequate security and voter education were found to have been unrelated to perceived violence. Further giving rise to regional disparities in electoral violence, there is a pressing need for targeted, context specific interventions to curtail electoral violence and its effects to Nigeria's democratic development.