LASU Journal of Public Administration and Management 1 Vol 2, No 2, October, 2020 EVALUATION OF THE ELECTORAL PROCESS OF THE 2015 GOVERNORSHIP ELECTION IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERI A Kalu 1 , Tony and Gberevbie 2 , Daniel Eseme Department of Political Science and International Relations Coven an t University, Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria. 1 tony_kalu@ymail.com Contact: 2 da niel.gberevbie@coveanantuniversity.edu.ng Abstract Democracy has gained universal acceptance and periodic eledion is one of basic feature of democracy. Since the adv ent of the Fourth Republic in 1999, several elections have been conducted at both national, state local government levels. However, the 2015 general elections served as turning points to the entire electoral process in Nigeria due to the higher acceptance of their outcomes and peaceful transition recorded. The paper evaluates electoral process of the 2015 gubernatorial election in Lagos State. The study adopted the historical method by using relevant journal art icles, magazines and reports of eledoral bodies and agencies obtained from the internet. The study was anchored on the Procedural Theory of Democracy. The Content analysis method was used to gather from the data obtained, issues related to the eledoral process. The units of analysis include intra-party politics/candidates selection, voting process and voters' behaviour, declaration of results and matters arising as well as performance of INEC Findings show that there was little intra-party democracy in the seledion of flag bearers among the two leading parties. Furthermore, the paper found that candidates engage in different kinds of political campaigns such as media rallies, and social media posts. The study recommends that political parties should condud proper primary elections and that INEC should improve its performances in future eledions by recruiting and training quali fi ed personnel for proper electoral conduct in order to advance democracy for de velopment in Nigeria. Keywords: Democraf:Yt electoral process, gubernatorial el edion, political system, voting, Lagos State, Nigeria 1. Introduction Democracy is a highly favoured form of government globally. Og un diya (2010) argues that democracy ove rti me has been acknowledged as the only proper and genuine way, by which peop le can be ruled. Also, the United Nations ha ve continued to call on authoritarian regimes in Africa and other parts the world to embrace democracy. The need for poli tical stability and virile democratic process is the yearning of many Nigerians since independence. The international community is also concerned with the electoral process in Nigeria seeing the country's strategic position in international politics as well as its role as the " big brother" to other Africa n countries. It is believed that Nigeria sho ul d serve as an example or role model to other African countries by having a virile democratic culture, which promotes free and fair elections as well as peaceful transition from one civilian administration to another. However, since independence in 1960, the country's political life has bee n saturated 1 with polit ical fraud, bad governance; ethnicity, religiosity, military interference, violence and host of other problems that have continue to affect the country 's reputation around the world. George-Genyi (2016) asserts that, Nige ria has been fight ing to mount a sustainable and long - lasting democracy; the country 's administrative landscape is branded by consistent inabi lity to car ry out sincere elections in which its people adequately choose th eir leaders. According to Falade (2014), the level and system of electoral involvement of voters determine the success of the electoral system of a country. Citizens must be involved in t he electoral process by joining political parties, engaging in electoral movement, voting during election and other political events. He further arg ues that, in Nigeria, the case is different because of the unconstitutional tendencies such a selecto ral fraud, political uncertainties, ballot 'box snatching ' and violence which for now