UK election: Lessons for Nigeria

THE United Kingdom has a new leadership amid changes in the House of Commons in the July 4 polls. While Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was sent out of Downing Street, Keir Starmer was voted into government. The election was seamless. Nigeria must draw lessons from this to save its distressed democracy and bolster confidence in voting, and democracy.

Starmer’s Labour Party won 412 out of the 650 seats, translating into a huge majority in the Commons. The Tories lost 121 seats, the Liberal Democrats garnered 72 seats, while other parties scrambled for the remaining seats. Given the parliamentary nature of the UK, Labour, which exceeded the statutory 326 majority, made its party leader the prime minister. The election and the continuity of governance were seamless.

The campaigns were decorous, devoid of unpalatable name-calling in the habit of Nigeria’s political class. The contestants campaigned based on critical issues affecting the country. Reports stated that Starmer expressed concerns for education, healthcare, and the high cost of living; he gave pragmatic answers, promising to improve the lives of Britons.

Unlike in Nigeria, UK citizens voted with their valid photo ID, displacing the cumbersome process of voter registration, voter accreditation, and collection of voter cards that frustrate many eligible Nigerians. According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, at least six million Permanent Voter Cards were not collected during the 2023 general elections.

There is adverse voter turnout in Nigeria. While the UK had a 60 per cent voter turnout, Nigeria’s voter outlook is abysmal. It steadily dwindled from 57.4 per cent in 2007 to 53.7 per cent in 2011, 43.6 per cent in 2015, and 34.75 per cent in 2019. INEC disclosed that it reached a 44-year low at 27 per cent in 2023. This highlights a lack of confidence in the electoral system. It is compounded by waves of hate speech, ballot snatching, arson, violence, and deaths during every election cycle.

The UK election remains an example: it was held on July 4, and the winner was declared on July 5. The British monarch, King Charles III asked Starmer to form a government on the same day, according to the law. Prime Minister Starmer announced his first cabinet appointments on the same day. Lawmakers who won or retained their seats returned to the parliament to begin making laws.

Comparatively, when a Nigerian governor or president is declared winner by INEC, they are ushered with elaborate swearing-in, buoyed by eloquent speeches in expensive banquets, and treated as emperors instead of servants to the people. An impoverished public bears the overhead cost. This should change.

For the UK, the Conservative Party conceded defeat without a backlash and is expected to form a shadow government, thus providing ample checks and balances, and policy alternatives in every aspect of British life.

Nigeria’s opposition parties should follow suit. They should constantly proffer viable alternatives to the policies of President Bola Tinubu. This will help to keep it on its toes and save the country from the socioeconomic scourge.

Unfortunately, Nigeria’s elections are mired in litigation from pre-election to the post-election periods. This not only rouses tension and uncertainty, but it also dents our nascent democracy and gives room for the courts to displace the legitimacy of the voters for the adjudication of the gavel.

Urgently, Nigeria’s democracy must evolve or perish. It must shed reckless and expensive campaigns through policies that boost elections. It must firmly protect the rights of the voter and implement a flawless system to enhance elections in the country. Politics must be based on critical national issues to achieve sustainable democracy in Nigeria.