State Fragility and Elections in Nigeria: Explaining the Context and Outcome of Imo State 2023 Off-cycle Gubernatorial Election

Elections are an important feature of democracy. However, elections are by nature conflictual and can aggravate societal tensions in fragile states by exacerbating underlying/ongoing conflicts (Salehyan & Linebarger, 2013). In Nigeria, elections have mostly been contentious and have been held under fragile conditions that amplify the tendencies of such elections to exacerbate underlying conflicts and further polarise society. The just concluded November 11th, 2023, off-cycle governorship election in Imo State exemplifies one of such elections held in fragile contexts.

This edition of Nextier Policy Weekly explored the connection between the fragility of Imo State and the outcome of the 2023 governorship election in the state.

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