INEC Said that Only 35% voted in 2011 Election

The Independent National Electoral Commission on Thursday noted that Nigerians’participation in the electoral process was low, saying that only 35 per cent of the 70 million registered voters took part in the

last general elections.

The Chairman of INEC, Prof. Attahiru Jega, stated this at a workshop on voter apathy organised in Abuja by the commission.

Before Jega made the disclosure through the chairman, INEC Board of Electoral Institute, Prof. Lai Olurode, United States President Barack Obama, advised President Goodluck Jonathan to use the opportunity of his victory at the April poll to develop Nigeria.

Jega, at the workshop in which the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation gave a report of its research on the April general elections, said the poor turn out of voters in the general elections was at variance with the belief that they showed much enthusiasm during the polls.

He described the workshop as part of efforts “to extend the frontiers of citizenship and widen the scope of participation in elections and governance processes.”

The INEC chairman noted that the low participation in the polls was an indication of political apathy in the country and citizens’ disinterestedness in the electoral process.