Implementing an E-Democracy System in Nigeria

Abstract

E-democracy basically comprises the use of electronic communications technologies such as the internet, in enhancing and advancing the democratic process within a democratic republic. E-democracy is an innovation still in its infant stage; and is still subject to much debate and activity within government, civic oriented groups and societies around the world. In most developing countries including Nigeria, there exists a low attitude of participation of the citizens in governance. Social, political, insecurity, Corruption and other forms of electoral manipulation discourage the electorate from getting involved in government From the various elections conducted since independence, about half the number of registered voters actually voted during elections. In addition, less than half of those who voted were involved in participatory governance. The objective is of this paper is development of a web-based system that will foster and encourage active citizenship participation by implementing democratic practices like voting and election campaign. The system was developed using PHP as front end, Apache as web server and MySQL as Database. The benefits of having an e-Democracy system are numerous: It reduces the success of rigging during elections. It is time saving because it reduced some undue electoral processes. It allows for easy communication between the citizens and their elected candidates.

Keywords:  Citizen, e-Democracy, Election, e-Governance, Voting and Participation