Open ballot system

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In Nigeria, open ballot system, also known as Option A4, is a voting method in which voters vote openly by queuing or otherwise, indicating the candidate of their choice. This is as opposed to a secret ballot, where a voter's choices are confidential. The system minimizes incidences of election rigging that comes with the secret ballot system as well as other electoral fraudulent-related practices.

The open ballot system was the norm prior to Australia adopting the secret ballot in 1856.^[1] In modern times, the open ballot was first adopted in the Third Nigerian Republic during the 1993 Nigerian presidential election, an election that was widely regarded as the freest and fairest in the country's political history.^[2][3]

See also

• Nigerian presidential election, 1993
• Moshood Abiola
• Humphrey Nwosu

References

Further reading

• Norbert Kersting; Janice Caulfield; R. Andrew Nickson; Dele Olowu; Hellmut Wollmann (2009). Local Governance Reform in Global Perspective. Berlin: Springer-Verlag. ISBN 353116953X.
• Nigeria National Electoral Commission. Open Ballot System and Electioneering Campaign Laws and Guidelines (1990)