Youth candidacy drops 6% for 2023 elections

A preliminary Yiaga Africa assessment has revealed that the number of young people running for office in the general elections scheduled for 2023 has decreased by 6% since the 2019 elections.

The youth candidacy rate for the coal elections was 28.6%, down from 34 percent in 2019; according to the report, which the organization certified accurate as of October 5, 2022.

This represents a decline of 6% since the previous election year. Further analysis revealed that the percentage of young people running for the House of Representatives fell from 27.4 percent in 2019 to 21.6 percent in 2023.

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The State House of Assembly experienced a similar decline, going from 41.8 percent in 2019 to 35.6 percent in 2023.

The Yiaga report also revealed that 1,899 of the 4,398 youth candidates were between the ages of 25 and 30; constituting 42.3% of the youth candidates that benefited from the Not Too Young To Run Act.

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The African Democratic Congress had the most youth candidates running for office with a total of 643; followed by the New Nigeria Peoples Party in third place with 390; the Labour Party in fifth place with a total of 293 candidates; the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party in 13th place with 131 candidates; while the ruling All Progressives Congress in 15th place with 96 candidates; with the African Action Congress in 17th place with 77 candidates.

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The research also revealed that the proportion of female candidates among all young candidates was only 11%, and that of candidates with impairments was only 0.2%.

Yiaga advised parties to offer young male and female candidates during the campaigns technical, financial, and logistical support. They also urged the public to support youth candidates by contributing financially to those who have competence, character, and capacity.