Electoral process as a necessity but not sufficient for successful democratization: A conspectus of the rule of law in Brazil, Mexico, Nigeria and Ghana

This paper argues that it is not enough to hold elections because democracy goes beyond elections but more importantly, certain basic principles and/or ingredients of democracy must be incorporated and respected. However, there is a disagreement among the scholars in the field of democratization about the role of election in democratization process, hence, the need to establish the effect of repeated multi-party elections on democratization in those countries under investigation. Data was collected from secondary sources and qualitative method of analysis was applied while power of election theory was adopted as the theoretical framework of analysis. The study revealed that repeated multi-party elections have the capacity to affect positively the application of the rule of law in any democratic setting, hence, the paper advocated for a credible multi-party elections as it promotes democratic rule of law and works towards stable democratization.