BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY

Populist theory of democracy suggests that democracy and its process function to make political decisions based on the collective will of the people. The will of the people is determined by the participation of the people in voting, involvement in political and public affairs, and expression of opinions and thoughts. Therefore, the strength of democracy according to the populists depends on the strength of participation of the people in political and public affairs.

Populist theorists, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau (The Basic Political Writings 1987 P. 201) and John Stuart Mill (Utilitarianism, On Liberty, Considerations on Representative Government, Remarks on Bentham’s Philosophy: The Guernsey Press, 2001 P. 246) suggested that democracy can indeed be weakened by low voters turnout. Voting is one of the easiest ways for citizens to participate in the democratic process. If less people are expressing their will—that is lower voter turnout—the less accurate the will of the people will be, according to populist theory. Putnam described voting as “the most common act of democratic citizenship” (Putman, Robert D. Bowling Alone. 2000 P 31).

Jean-Jacques Rousseau advocated full participation of the people in lawmaking: “In a well run city everyone flies to the assemblies; under a bad government no one wants to take a step to get to them…. Once someone says what do I care about the affairs of the state, the state should be considered lost” (The Basic Political Writings 1987 P. 201). Rousseau wrote about this concept of sovereignty and stated that the legislative power has to be in hands of the people. John Stuart Mill (Utilitarianism, On Liberty, Considerations on Representative Government, Remarks on Bentham’s Philosophy: The Guernsey Press, 2001 P. 246) recognized that the best form of government was representative government. Even though the people gave some of their power to make policies to their elected representatives on trust, Mill acknowledged that ultimately the power of the state lies with the people: “There is no difficulty in showing that the ideal best form of government is that in which the sovereignty, or supreme controlling power in the last resort, is vested in the entire aggregate of the community; every citizen not only having a voice in the exercise of that ultimate sovereignty, but…called on to take an actual part in the government”. Robert Dahl, in his work (Democracy and its Critics 1989), argued that “effective participation” is a criterion for the perfect democratic process. However, Dahl emphasized the opportunity for participation in making decisions and not the manifestation of it when he said that “Throughout the process of making binding decisions, citizens ought to have an adequate opportunity, and an equal opportunity, for expressing their preferences as to the final outcome” (Democracy and its Critics 1989 P. 102). Therefore, the propensity for a system to be more democratic is when participation by the people to influence decision making increases and vice versa.

Voting is one of the easiest ways for citizens to participate in the democratic process. Putnam described voting as “the most common act of democratic citizenship” (Putman, Robert D. Bowling Alone. 2000 P. 31). Populist theorists would argue that voting represents the will of the people. In elections, people vote for representatives that they believe are most in line with their political beliefs and views. In turn, the decisions made by these elected representatives are based on the will of the people. This is why Mill supported representative government when he stressed that “the meaning of representative government is that the whole people, or some numerous portion of them, exercise through deputies periodically elected by themselves the ultimate controlling power”. Along with representatives, citizens vote for initiatives, bonds, and other issues that also correspond to their political beliefs. A populist theorist would argue that the outcome of an election represents what the people wanted (the will of the people).

Therefore, voter turnout is vital for the democratic process hence Rousseau claimed that “the peculiar advantage to democratic government is that it can be established in actual fact by a simple act of the general will”. If less people are expressing their will; that is lower voter-turnout and the less accurate the will of the people will be according to the populist theory. This shall be one of the bases for assessing the political participation of Nigerians using the last general elections in Lagos state in 2003.