Attahiru M. Jega Democratization, in all societies, is neither a swift nor smooth­sailing experience. Some scholars have argued that it is a long and tortuous process that takes place in incremental waves, in the course of which societies transit from authoritarian control into a liberal,'participatory' state. Our experience in Nigeria has largely reflected this pattern. Until 1999, Nigeria's experience of democratization was in fits and starts; characterized by military interventions in the political system in 1966, 1975, 1983, 1985, 1993 and 1998. The advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999 brought some stability to the polity; but the democratization process was bedevilled by badly conducted elections that left Nigerians frustrated and disenchanted with the value and validity of electoral democracy in the country. That was the challenge facing our country when we came on board as a Commission in 2010, shortly after which we had to conduct the 2011 general elections that were adjudged locally and internationally among the best elections Nigeria ever had. I am convinced that the 2011 general elections would not have received the accolades it did without the tremendous support and interest it received from stakeholders. The enthusiasm with which the vast majority of Nigerians went about the elections was unprecedented. During the registration of voters in 2011, for instance, there were cases in which communities provided chairs, canopies, tables and even generators to ensure that the exercise was concluded successfully. There was indeed a widespread feeling among Nigerians that they are stakeholders in the electoral reform process and in the success of the country's democratic experiment. I think, therefore, that the choice of the theme of stakeholders in the electoral process is timely. We need to understand who these 26 Stakeholders and the Electoral Process in Nigeria: Review of 2011 Elections and Projections for 2015 stakeholders are, their roles in the electoral process and the very positive relationships that INEC forged with them during the 2011 elections, as well as how we can build on these relationships for the 2015 general elections and beyond. 2.2 Understanding Stakeholders in the Electoral Process In many democracies across the world, the management of elections is increasingly becoming less of a technical affair to be left exclusively to the EMBs and other statutory bodies and their officials. Instead, it is becoming more of a terrain of broad civic engagement, involving volunteer poll workers, election observers, CSOs, citizen groups, the media and opinion moulders. Indeed, EMBs are becoming smaller and smaller in composition because citizens are becoming more directly involved in the governance of the electoral process. This wide-ranging citizen involvement in elections, both as individuals and as organizations, defines the role of stakeholders in the electoral process. It seems to me that one defining characteristic of democratic maturity is the rising involvement of stakeholders in the electoral process. In other words, the more mature a democracy is, the more directly involved in the electoral process and its management that citizens, as stakeholders, would become. By the way, the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary 8th edition defined a'stakeholder' in the following words: “a person or company that is involved in a particular organization, project, system, etc., especially because they have invested money in it.” To define it broadly and since all Nigerians including even our development partners have interests in how we do elections, all can thus be said to be stake-holders in the electoral process. This is the more so, because we are bound to be affected by election outcomes. 27