International Election Observers’ Perception of Nigeria’s 2023 General Election: Lessons for 2027

Abstract

The centrality of the role of election observers in an election is underscored by their tendency
for non-partisan and non-interventionist observation. Added to that is their impartial
assessment of the whole exercise – as reflected in their post-election reports. If anything,
independent international election observers’ reports tend to confer some form of political
legitimacy on elected government officials. Nigeria’s 2023 general election cycle was not
different as an appreciable number of domestic and foreign election observers participated
actively in it. This paper, therefore, sets out to assess how international observers perceived
the 2023 general elections, with a view to highlighting key areas that must be kept in focus
ahead of the next election cycle in 2027. Drawing from the norm of international election
monitoring, the paper argued that the role of international election observers in Nigeria –
along with their post-election reports – would remain ceremonial for as long as pseudodemocrats remain in power. Baseline data constituted the primary sources of information for
the paper, and analysis was done qualitatively. The paper recommended, among other things,
that the international community should (collectively) investigate elections scored low by
international observers and thereafter, perpetrators can be sanctioned accordingly. That way,
the work of international election observers would cease to be considered actions in futility.