PUBLIC PERCEPTION OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE INDEPENDENT NATIONAL ELECTORAL COMMISSION (INEC) ON THE COMING 2023 GENERAL ELECTIONS

Abstract The basic problem in any political system is to discover the main reasons underlying electoral behavior; to find out how the voters view the parties, the candidates and the electoral process and why they cast their votes in a certain way. There is no doubt that those trying to destabilise Nigeria or trying to elongate the tenure of the current Buhari administration may attempt to foist a state of helplessness on the country. This research project examined public perception of the activities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on the coming 2023 general elections in Nigeria. The study was anchored on the Spiral of Silence theory and the Perception theory. The researcher adopted the survey research method for the execution of the study. A sample of 400 was drawn from a population of 820,000 using the Taro Yamane formula. Questionnaire was structured into open-ended and close-ended questions to elicit data from the respondents. The research questions were analysed using simple percentage table while the research hypotheses were tested using the Chi-Square statistical table. The researcher found out that Enugu urban residents are willing to vote in the 2023 general elections as a result of their confidence in INEC. The researcher recommended amongst others, that the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) should sustain their public enlightenment and sensitisation programmes for the electorate to enhance their exposure on voter registration exercise, rather than only resorting to awareness campaign close