The Trend of Opposition Political Parties in Sustaining Democracy: A Comparative Study of Nigeria and Malaysia

DOI

10.2991/uicosp-17.2017.1How to use a DOI?

Keywords

democratisation, political parties, opposition, ruling, elections, nigeria, malaysia

Abstract

Democratisation wave is a global phenomenon that cuts across countries within the international system. Democracy has become an acceptable system of government which is believed to be the hope of the people. Nevertheless, the relevance of political parties in any democratic arrangement cannot be over-emphasised. Given this, the centrality of party politics to democratisation remains a pillar in nurturing democratic system. Political parties are the popular and legal avenue through which individuals contest elections in order to form a legitimate government. However, the interesting scenario in modern democratic societies particularly in developing countries is the trend and viability of opposition political parties in electoral contests. This makes it imperative in this study to explore the dynamism of opposition political parties in sustaining democracy of Nigeria and Malaysia. Both countries belong to the developing world where democratisation process has been faced with pro and cons. But the trend of opposition political parties challenging the ruling party has tremendously changed the political configuration of the two countries. Since the inception of democracy in Nigeria in 1999 after years of military regimes, opposition parties have actually challenged the monopoly of the ruling party (Peoples Democratic Party) to the extent that for the first time the country experienced electoral turnover that led to opposition (All Progressive Congress) defeating the incumbency in the last 2015 general elections. Similarly, the opposition political parties in Malaysia have proven to be a force to be reckon with by denying the ruling party (Barisan Nasional) two third majority in the parliament during the 2008 national elections. The 2013 general elections also recorded 51 percent popular votes for the opposition party (Pakatan Rakyat). With the aid of secondary data as source of information, the study infers that opposition parties in the two countries do not only serve as alternative to the ruling party but also strengthen democratic practise in the societies. Based on this, sustaining democracy is not a mirage.

Copyright

© 2017, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press.

Open Access

This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Sakariyau Rauf Tunde
AU  - Ainis Azreen
AU  - Mohd Azizuddin Mohd Sani
AU  - Ummu Atiyah Ahmad Zakuan
PY  - 2017/10
DA  - 2017/10
TI  - The Trend of Opposition Political Parties in Sustaining Democracy: A Comparative Study of Nigeria and Malaysia
BT  - Proceedings of the Unhas International Conference on Social and Political Science (UICoSP 2017)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 1
EP  - 4
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/uicosp-17.2017.1
DO  - 10.2991/uicosp-17.2017.1
ID  - Tunde2017/10
ER  -