The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that 157 out of 171 associations seeking registration as political parties failed to meet the required criteria.
In a statement on Thursday, INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, said only 14 associations scaled the first screening and have been cleared to proceed to the next stage of the process.
The pre-qualified groups include the African Transformation Party (ATP), All Democratic Alliance (ADA), Advance Nigeria Congress (ANC), Abundance Social Party (ASP), African Alliance Party (APP), Citizens Democratic Alliance (CDA), Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA), Grassroots Initiative Party (GRIP), Green Future Party (GFP), Liberation Peoples Party (LPP), National Reform Party (NRP), Patriotic Peoples Alliance (PPA), and Peoples Freedom Party (PFP).
Olumekun explained that the applications were assessed based on compliance with Section 222 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Section 79 of the Electoral Act 2022, and INEC’s 2022 Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties. He added that interim chairmen and secretaries of the cleared associations have been invited to a briefing on Wednesday, September 17, at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
He said the next stage would involve physical verification of all claims made by the groups before a final decision is taken on their registrability. INEC reiterated that political party registration is a continuous process and that the commission will remain open to new applications that meet legal requirements.
The electoral body also warned against irregularities, including frequent changes of logos, acronyms, addresses, or multiple submissions by the same association, noting that such practices had delayed the current process.
