AN ASSESSMENT OF THE VOTING PATTERN IN THE NORTH EAST SUB-REGION OF NIGERIA IN THE 2023 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

The study was designed to investigate voting pattern in the north eastern Nigeria in the 2023 Presidential election. Election is essential for ensuring a good transition government but not necessarily turning to a responsive and representative government. Usually, elections determines people choice from set of alternatives available to them and the way in which they vote is paramount to this study. Few researches were discovered on voting pattern in northeast Nigeria, often characterised by strong party support and regional tie. The study traced the factors that influenced voting pattern in the period under investigation, reasons for the influence and proffer solutions to the negative effect of voting pattern in the study area. Psychosocial theory of voting pattern was adopted for the research work; whose emphasis is on the psychological susceptibility of an individual to explain voter choice and decision. Quantitative method was used to investigate the research work; questionnaire was administered to collect primary data, secondary data were as well obtained via textbooks, journal articles, internet materials, magazines to review literature; descriptive statistics was used, where mean of each variable was calculated to determined its acceptance or rejection. The findings revealed that, regional tie and selling of votes characterised the voting pattern in the area concern which was influenced by strong party support, regional sentiment and money. Moreso,voter turnout, absence of defined political ideology, unfavourable policies, absence of definite political culture and vote buying were put forth as the key elements that engineer the reasons to the voting pattern in the area of study. The study therefore recommends that, An enhanced electoral law with a stringent penalty be established to cope vote buying. The need to inculcate a political culture that respect rule of law and democratic principles is utmost.