POLITICAL PROMOTIONAL INCENTIVES AND ELECTORATES' CHOICE OF CANDIDATES: SHAPING THE IMAGE

Abstract

Recently, voters are bewildered with high promises by candidates during their campaign, in order forthemto trade off their votes for minor tips they get along the politicking exercise. Political promotionalincentives are therefore an attempt to influence electorate's choice. This study examines the impact ofpolitical promotional incentives on electorates' choice of candidate in Ilorin metropolis. The studyhas made use of survey research whereby copies of questionnaire were administered purposefully to a total number of 400 respondents who were selected from 3 local government areas in Ilorin.Thesample size was determined by using Taro Yamen's formula for determining sample and a total

number of 392 turned the result. Questionnaire was distributed to these individuals. Out of these, 373

were valid and used for the analysis. Regression analysis was used for the collected data. As the p

value of the coefficient of independent variable was less than the alpha value of 0.05, findings

revealed that the more politicalpromotional incentives are offered to the electorates, the better they

see a candidate and thus can give him their mandate during election period. The study concluded that

political promotional incentives such as: foodstuffs, money, motorcycles, grinding machines, caps,

umbrella, prizes, gifts, scholarship, books, key-holders, etc, havesignificant impact on electorates'

choice of candidate. The study therefore, recommended that candidates should consider political

promotional incentives as a social good which does not necessarily need to be conditioned on the

intention of running for a political position. It is further recommended that, instead of trading their

vote for money, electorates should support a candidate on the basis of proposition as weighed against

their past record, image and other pertinent considerations should be looked into when making choice

of political candidates.