Democracy Day 2026 ought to be a celebration. Instead, it feels like a moment of reflection.
With party primaries for the 2027 general elections largely concluded, one troubling reality has emerged: fewer women have secured party tickets than in 2023. After years of conversations about inclusion, gender equity, the Reserved Seats Bill, and increased political participation for women, Nigeria’s democracy appears to have taken a step backwards.
Direct primaries were championed as a democratic breakthrough — a system that would transfer power from political elites to ordinary party members. The promise was simple: eliminate delegate manipulation, reduce backroom deals, and allow the people to choose their candidates. By extension, many believed this would create a more level playing field for women and other underrepresented groups.
The outcome tells a different story. The challenge was not merely about delegates or the influence of a few powerful individuals. Direct primaries significantly increased the cost of participation, requiring aspirants to campaign across numerous wards and engage thousands of party members directly. For many women, this expanded financial burden became an even greater obstacle.
Yet, the issue goes beyond the method of candidate selection. In many states, parties employed a combination of direct primaries and consensus arrangements, but the result remained largely the same: women were still edged out of the process.
What direct primaries have exposed is a deeper and more difficult problem — bias at the grassroots.
Party structures and local power brokers continue to favour preferred aspirants, who are overwhelmingly male. Many voters at the ward level still hold cultural and social biases regarding women’s leadership. In addition, female aspirants remain disproportionately subjected to intimidation, character attacks, and both physical and online harassment.
Changing the voting method did not change the underlying realities. It did not eliminate financial barriers. It did not dismantle entrenched party structures. And it did not automatically transform societal attitudes towards women in politics.
Nigeria’s National Gender Policy advocates a minimum of 35 per cent affirmative action for women. However, without meaningful enforcement mechanisms within party constitutions and political processes, such commitments risk remaining little more than aspirational statements.
Direct primaries were expected to enhance transparency. What they have revealed instead is an uncomfortable truth: the barriers to women’s political participation do not exist only at the top. They are embedded within local party structures, financial systems, and societal attitudes.
As we mark Democracy Day, the focus must shift from celebration to accountability.
Political parties should publish comprehensive gender-disaggregated data on their primaries and commit to measurable reforms. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should strengthen transparency requirements and encourage greater inclusiveness within party processes. Citizens, too, must ask themselves a fundamental question: do we want a democracy that truly reflects the diversity of Nigeria, or are we content with a system that continues to exclude half of its population?
If the 2027 elections ultimately produce fewer women candidates than 2023, then we have not expanded our democracy. We have diminished it.
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Hon Dame Blessing Nwagba, PhD, is a former two-term member of Abia State House of Assembly, Abia State Coordinator of the Nigerian League of Women Voters, 2023 Senatorial Candidate of the APC in Abia South, and APC 2027 Senatorial Aspirant in Abia South
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