Application of Game Theory in the Nigerian Electoral System

Abstract

In this paper, we carry out a study on the application of game theory in the Nigerian electoral system. The data for the study was collected from the official publication of INEC results for six major political parties in the February 25th, 2023 presidential election in Nigeria. In the competitive game, each political party and INEC used mixed strategies in the game. The political parties compete for the electorates’ vote while INEC regulates the game. INEC has six strategies and political parties also have six strategies which they apply in various proportions to outweigh the other. Therefore, for any of the political parties to be successful in the election, she must apply: party structure up to 19.54%; manifesto up to 20.18%; campaign up to 19.05%; people’s perception of the political party up to 20.26%; vote from electorate up to 19.54% and acceptable candidate up to 1.43% of the time respectively. For INEC to effectively perform her statutory responsibility, she must apply: electoral law up to 18.71%; electoral guidelines up to 19.99%; prosecuting electoral offenders up to 16.87%; cancelling elections up to 23.14%; inconclusive elections up to 19.19%; declaration of results up to 2.10% of the time respectively and the value of the game was 1.5337.