PARTY POLITICS

This study examines the effect of party politics on political campaigns in Nigeria, with specific emphasis on the 2023 presidential election in Anambra state. Nigeria has come a long way since 1922 in terms of the number and spread of political parties. The number of political parties and their spread seems to give the impression that representation has become an important requirement for the existence of political parties. The study adopts a survey design and employs quantitative research methods. Primary data is collected through structured questionnaires administered. The sample size is determined using Cochrane (1977) sample size determination formula, yielding approximately 390respondents, selected through stratified random sampling to ensure proportional representation. The data collected from the instruments were organized in tables using simple percentages. Cronbach's Alpha is employed to test the reliability of the research instrument, ensuring consistency in measuring the variables. Findings from the study revealed that Nigerian political parties often lack clear ideologies making it difficult for voters to distinguish between them. This ambiguity fuels party defections and transactional politics. It was also revealed that politicians make provocative statements that ignite passions and hostilities among their supporters, often targeting opponents or rival groups. The study offers valuable recommendations that political candidates and party members should make frantic efforts to inform or persuade electorates for their votes rather than mislead them with enticing words or making hate speeches capable of disrupting the electoral process and causing disenchantment among the electoraes, it was also recommended that political candidates and parties should communicate their political agenda without the use of force, destructive tendencies and unhealthy rivalry among one party and the other and between party members and electorates.