EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF ELECTORAL GOVERNANCE AND DECENTRALIZATION.

It has been a subject of debate among scholars and political analysis on whether election governance is a prerequisite for ensuring successful decentralization. This is not unconnected with the general notion that the extent of decentralization in any political set-up is solely dependent on the desire of higher levels of government to share its powers with the lower tiers of government. Therefore, this paper examines the roles of electoral governance in the enhancement of successful decentralization. The main thrust of the paper is to determine the implications of electoral process on decentralization. Descriptive survey was adopted for the purpose of data collection. Purposive sampling was used to sample 280 respondents out of a total population of 1,282. Out of a total of 280 questionnaire administered to the staff of Independent Electoral Commission (INEC), Abuja. 264 were completed and retuned accordingly. The statistical tool used of testing the validity of hypotheses is chi-square analysis. The research findings revealed that election governance has great role to play in the enchantment of successful decentralization. This is not unconnected with the fact that pluralistic politics during elections and representative government bequeath more influence to citizens, or their representatives in the formulation and implementation of policies. Also, it was discovered that the decisions made with greater participation through favourble electoral governance will be better informed and more relevant to diverse interests in society than those made only by national political authorities. Above all, the selection of representatives from local electoral jurisdictions allows citizens to know better their political representatives and allows elected officials to know better the needs and desires of their constituents. The study therefore recommended that electoral governance should give room for popular participation in grassroots democracy thorough political education and sensitization in order to guarantee successful decentralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]