Collective Welfare and Political Interests in Electoral Policy: A Utilitarian Analysis of Nigeria’s Electoral Act 2022

This paper explores that tension through a utilitarian analysis of the design and implementation of the Electoral Act 2022. It argues that the Act has substantial welfare-oriented features but collective welfare cannot be inferred from progressive statutory provisions alone. The practical value of an electoral reform is whether its rules, institutional arrangements and implementation processes turn those provisions into equal opportunities to participate, reliable accreditation, transparent result management, effective accountability and public confidence. Utilitarianism is the normative yardstick for evaluating these outcomes while Public Choice Theory is the explanation for how political incentives might distort policy from its larger social purpose. The common good, justice and equity as outlined by Aristotle offer a vital counterpoint to utilitarian aggregation, particularly when aggregate welfare is at the expense of minorities. The paper identifies the policy-utility gap between the welfare goals in the reform and some of the implementation aspects in the 2023 general elections, based on the Electoral Act 2022, official electoral materials, reports from election-observation missions and existing scholarship on elections. It is argued that electoral reform should not rely solely on improvements to the law but also on the availability of appropriate rules, capacity and resources within the electoral system, accountability and protections against the potential for the transformation of public electoral institutions into tools for specific political advantage.