ANALYSING THE IMPACT OF SOCIOECONOMIC FACTORS INFLUENCING VOTER TURNOUT IN NIGERIA’S FOURTH REPUBLIC (2015-2023)

Abstract

Despite various political situations in Nigerian democracy marked by variouspolitical contexts and a wide range of strategies to contest the results, voter turnout in Nigerianpresidential elections has declined. This study aimed to investigate the influence of socio-economic factors on voter turnout in Nigeria’s 2015, 2019, and 2023 presidential elections.Using secondary data, the study employed descriptive statistics (maximum, minimum, mean,and standard deviation) and ordinary least squares (OLS) regression analysis with the statisticalpackage for the social sciences (SPSS) environment to describe and evaluate the impact ofthese factors on voter turnout, respectively. ESRI ArcGIS 10.8 was also used to examine thegeographical distribution of voter turnout. The findings revealed a significant decrease in theaverage voter turnout of 46.72% in 2015, 35.63% in 2019, and 27.06% in the 2023 presidentialelections. Notably, states with higher voter turnout rates were often aligned with the rulingparty