2023: INEC begins registration process for 45 new parties

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The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is set to begin registration process for new political parties after receiving 45 applications from associations seeking to be registered as political parties.

The commission has affirmed that associations are free to enjoy the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of association.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman (Information and Voter Education Committee), Festus Okoye, who said this in an interview, however, warned that the associations “must be ready to canvass for votes and sponsor candidates for elections the moment they are registered as political parties.”

Okoye was responding to questions on the number of political parties that had applied for registration ahead of the 2023 general elections.

He said, “Presently, the commission is processing 45 applications received from various associations. It is a constitutional and legal obligation and mandate, and the commission will register any of them that satisfies the constitutional threshold.

“Associations are free to enjoy the constitutionally entrenched and guaranteed freedom of association but they must be ready to canvass for votes and sponsor candidates for elections the moment they are registered as political parties.

“A newly registered political party has the same incidents of registration as existing parties. Associations must, therefore, put their structures in place and be properly grounded before applying to transmute to political parties.

“INEC is constitutionally and legally empowered to register political parties in accordance with the provisions of the constitution, the Electoral Act, and the commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for the Registration and Dissolution of Political Parties, 2018.

“Any association intending to transmute to a political party must satisfy and conform to the provisions of sections 221 to 229 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).”

Okoye said such associations must have their headquarters in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. He said the names and addresses of their national officers must be registered with the commission, and that the membership of the associations must be open to all Nigerians.

Recall that INEC had on February 6, 2020 deregistered 74 political parties for failing to satisfy the requirements of the Fourth Alteration to the Constitutional Electoral Act 2020 (as amended).

The INEC National Chairman, Prof Mahmood Yakubu, while announcing the commission’s decision, said, “The commission was able to determine the performance of political parties in the elections.

“In addition, they were also assessed on the basis of their performance at the area council elections in the Federal Capital Territory, which coincided with the 2019 general elections.”

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