In a democracy, election is a sine qua non. It is the means whereby people are chosen and put in positions of leadership. During elections people cast their votes for their preferred candidates. The candidates with the highest votes, otherwise known as the majority vote, emerge as the winner of the election.
The 1993 presidential election remains in all respect, an epoch in Nigeria history. This is so because it was an election Nigerians came out en masse to vote and exercise their franchise. It suffices to say that, haven been subjected to a long period of military rule, with it unsavoury consequences, Nigerians were passionately yearning for a return to civil rule.
Secondly, the election is still regarded up till date as the freest and fairest election ever held in the country. Again, it was an election that only two political parties took part in the contest. And, unfortunately too, it was an election that was annulled halfway into the announcement of the result.
The 1993 election was also remarkable in one way. The electoral body introduced Option A4 system which was used in the presidential election. The electoral body was the National Electoral Commission. The chairman of the commission was professor Humphrey Nwosu. Nwosu is a professor of political science. He was the one who introduced Option A4.
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Option A4 is an open ballot system. It is a method of voting whereby voters openly queue behind the poster/picture of their preferred candidate in an election. The voters are then counted and any candidate who has the highest number becomes the winner. In the 1993 election, it recorded some success as there was nothing like ballot snatching as it does not require ballot boxes or ballot papers, no rigging, or any form of election malpractices. However, under the Option A4 system, there is no secrecy of votes as people will see you on the queue and know who you voted for.
As a result of this, the Option A4 system, may have the advantage of reducing vote buying especially with the practice where voters collect money from different candidates when they know that they will only vote for one candidate.This is a more transparent system compared to the current open-secret ballot system where voters choice, and who they voted for is only known to them.
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