Nigerian elections are crowded with candidates: use this new device to determine who to vote for in your space

Eighteen political parties are contesting for Nigeria’s presidential elections scheduled for 25 February. Sure, 18 events. However that’s not the best variety of events in Nigeria’s election historical past. The file was in February 2019, when 73 political parties introduced presidential candidates.

Within the 2023 elections, the Nigerian media have devoted most of their consideration to 4 events and their candidates. This leaves an info hole concerning the others. And the presidency is only one place being stuffed. There are tons of of different political posts that might be decided.

To fill the gaps, a brand new election device has been launched which is able to assist voters determine who to forged their poll for – and the place.

The tracker

The device, referred to as My Candidate Nigeria, is an initiative that falls below the Africa Data Hub. Its goal is to tell voters and strengthen democracy.

The device helps voters in Nigeria determine candidates for the elections primarily based on their location tackle.

You possibly can attempt it and uncover who the candidates are and the place to vote.

Give attention to just a few

The device is vital as a result of the media has tended to concentrate on just some candidates and their events:

A number of the different candidates vying for presidency embody former pupil chief Omoyele Sowore, contesting below the banner of the African Motion Congress, and Adewole Adebayo of the Social Democratic Occasion. Kola Abiola is contesting on the ticket of the Individuals’s Redemption Occasion. We even have Hamza Al-Mustapha flying the flag of Motion Alliance, and Dumebi Kachikwu of the African Democratic Congress. Chichi Ojei of the Allied Peoples Motion is the one feminine presidential candidate.

A whole lot of selections

There are 1,101 candidates for the Senate and 3,122 candidates vying for federal constituencies within the Home of Representatives. The elections might be performed throughout 176,606 polling stations.

When it comes to gender, 3,875 candidates are male, made up of 35 for presidential and vice-president, 1,008 for Senate and a couple of,832 for Home of Representatives.

In the meantime 381 girls are contesting: one for president, 92 for Senate and 288 for Home of Representatives. There are additionally 11 individuals with disabilities within the race.

A total of 1,265,227 officials have been educated and might be deployed for the elections. They embody presiding, collation and returning officers, in addition to 530,538 polling unit safety officers. The electoral fee will deploy over a million personnel and huge portions of election supplies to 774 native authorities areas, 8,809 electoral wards and 176,846 polling models throughout the nation.

The elevated participation of younger Nigerians is noticeable. Seventy-one million young Nigerians registered to vote within the elections, out of the whole of 93.5 million registered voters. Younger right here means those that are below 50 years. Practically 40% of those that registered are below 35 while over 33 million and 35.75% are between the ages of 35 and 49. It follows that these between 18 and 49 years might decide these elections if sufficient of them prove to vote.

And that’s the reason this tracker would possibly assist as younger Nigerians are extra technologically pushed. They need to have the ability to navigate their method by the electoral maze utilizing it. It’s meant to assist voters make higher and extra knowledgeable selections.

MyCandidate Nigeria is an initiative of Open Cities Lab in collaboration with Orodata Science, Accountability Lab Nigeria and OdipoDev. Orodata Science, primarily based in Lagos, is main the venture. Their mission is to determine a data-literate world. Open Cities Lab is a non-profit organisation that creates instruments to enhance belief and accountability within the civic area. And Odipodev is a market analysis and information journalism lab primarily based in Kenya.