Institutionalising Uncertainty

Election is an organised uncertainty. This is to the relative extent that the input into the machinery is known, but what comes out at the end of the processes cannot be predetermined. This uncertainty of outcome of the electoral processes is the key defining element of democracy, defined as contestation that is open to participation. Indeed, the process of establishing democracy is the process of institutionalising uncertainty, of subjecting all interests to uncertainty. This work is a conscious effort in the study of election and its processes generally, and with special reference to Nigeria. It has, therefore, two parts. The first part is theoretical and provides the reader with basic knowledge on election and its processes. The second part focuses on Nigeria, the first country to hold election in black Africa. It details elections in Nigeria in their historical contexts from 1922 t0 2015, highlighting challenges and making valuable recommendations on how to improve the system and guarantee the indeterminacy of the outcome of the processes. The work which is an outcome of years of teachings and seminars of election and electoral administration at graduate and undergraduate levels is comprehensively written but simply structured for facile reading, teaching and learning.