AN ASSESSMENT OF POLITICAL PARTIES PERFORMANCE IN NIGERIA: AN EXAMINATION OF 2023 GENERAL ELECTIONS

Political parties have been the central thrust of democratic practice, and assessing the performance of political parties and credibility of elections in Nigeria has become a complex task. The 2023 general elections marked a significant shift in the country’s political landscape. The study examines the performance of political parties in Nigeria’s 2023 general elections, highlighting the challenges faced during the elections, identifying areas of strengths and weaknesses in party operations and as well the areas for improvement. Despite efforts to strength democratic institutions, the elections were marred by weak electoral governance, ethnic and regional dynamics, electoral law violations, godfatherism, money politics and vote buying which has undermined our democratic and electoral institution. This paper relied on secondary source of data collection such as party documents, electoral commission reports, journal articles, textbooks, newspaper, online publications and other relevant existing literatures, the theoretical framework adopt in this paper is the Institutional theory because it explains the linkage between Nigeria’s electoral process and political parties’ performance in Nigeria. Findings reveal that political parties are faced with numerous challenges such as lack of internal democracy, issue of party financing, lack of ideologies coherence, influence of ethnicity and religion, internal conflicts and factionalism. The paper emphasizes the need for strict compliance with electoral processes and transparency and accountability in the operations of political activities. Finally, the paper suggests a comprehensive electoral reform to address structural issues, increased accountability and transparency in the operations and financial activities of the parties.