Staggering 71% of Nigerian voters say debates should be compulsory

More than seventy per cent of registered voters in Nigeria believe thatpresidential candidates in February’s crucial election should compulsorily participate in a televised debates or town hall meetings according to a new poll conducted at the instance of ANAP Foundation.

The voters polled also said such debates and town hall meetings featuring the candidates should cover such issues spanning like their manifestos, competence checks, and personality recognition amongst others.

The poll conducted by NOI found that that if the elections were held today, turn out as percentage of voters registered could reach unprecedented levels with 73% of voters aged 18-25 and 82% of those aged 26-35 saying they would definitely vote in the forthcoming election which many have defined as being pivotal.

Similarly, 85% of registered voters aged 36-45 as well as 86% of those aged 46-60 and 82% of those aged 61+ responded that they would surely be voting in the coming elections.

The survey found that the age groups that expressed the greatest willingness to vote were those between 36-45 and 46-60 years.

The poll result shows that almost 8 in 10 registered voters are absolutely certain that they would be voting in the next presidential election and if they stay committed Nigeria could witness a huge turnout in the February Presidential 2023 elections.

ANAP says while this poll result shows some significant trends, “it is key to note that the battle ahead lies in the hands of the undecided/swing voters as they would ultimately decide which candidate takes the lead to emerge as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the 2023 presidential elections.”

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The foundation said the result was polled from 1,000 respondents; after which Anap Foundation conducted similar polls with a 2,000 and 3,000 respondents sample size but “the difference in the results was not significant.”

ANAP said, “the high percentage of voters (38%) who refused to disclose their preferred candidate in the South West Zone is worrisome. For other zones, those who refused to disclose their preferred candidate ranged from 14-23%.

“At 38%, the South West figure is an outlier. Historically, an exceedingly high percentage of voters refusing to disclose their preferred candidate is usually associated with perceptions/fears (real or imagined) of possible voter intimidation within a geographical area.”

ANAP described the December 2022 Polls as “inconclusive in terms of establishing a clear winner as the undecided voters, combined with the voters who refused to disclose their preferences, are enough to turn the tables. However, ANAP Foundation has concluded that the trends are clear enough to establish the front-runners and so our subsequent polls will continue to concentrate on the 4 leading candidates only.”