Democracy thrives on the willingness and ability of the people to participate in the political process. The political environment is expected to be free of inhibitions that obstruct freedom of expression. Political participation, political culture and political education are all critical elements of successful democracy. Technology is increasingly playing an invaluable role in encouraging citizens to participate in the political process. It makes information dissemination easy and fast.
Thus, political culture and political education are simultaneously being promoted by technology. Politicians have begun to deploy technology in their electioneering activities. Nowadays, candidates use social media to attract supporters. Every clever aspirant uses Facebook and Twitters to engage and influence the electorate. The same technology is also used to distribute contents that can put their opponents in bad light.
Furthermore, the electoral commission has started relying heavily on technology in the administration of elections in Nigeria. Technology is used to capture the biometric features of voters, manage the register of voters, and verify the identity of voters on Election Day. To a very large extent, technology has eliminated the incidence of ghost voters. In spite of these aforementioned benefits, technology can also serve negative political purposes.
The coming general election presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities for ensuring a secure and fair electoral process. On one hand, the country has made significant progress in recent years in improving the transparency and integrity of its electoral system. However, on the other hand, a number of multidimensional security threats continue to undermine the stability and legitimacy of the electoral process.