Party registration: INEC clears ADA, ANC, PFP, 11 other associations

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said on Thursday that 14 out of 171 associations seeking registration as political parties have been cleared to proceed to the next stage of their applications.

The INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Sam Olumekun, disclosed this in a statement after the commission’s regular meeting on Thursday in Abuja.

He said 157 associations failed to meet the requirements for registration.

The associations that met the requirements are the African Transformation Party (ATP), All Democratic Alliance (ADA), and the Advance Nigeria Congress (ANC).

Others are the Abundance Social Party (ASP), African Alliance Party (AAP), Citizens Democratic Alliance (CDA,) and the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA).

The rest are the Grassroots Initiative Party (GRIP), Green Future Party (GFP), Liberation People’s Party (LPP), National Democratic Party (NDP), and the National Reform Party (NRP), the Patriotic Peoples Alliance (PPA), and the Peoples Freedom Party (PFP).

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Olumekun noted that the meeting considered the report of its Committee on the Review of Letters of Intent from associations seeking registration as political parties.

According to him, each of the 171 requests was assessed based on its prima facie compliance with the provisions of Section 222 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended).

He added that the associations were also assessed on the compliance with Section 79 (1, 2, and 4) of the Electoral Act 2022 and Clause 2 (i and ii) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties 2022.

“Out of the total number of applications received, 14 associations have met the requirements to proceed to the next stage, while 157 have not.

“The Commission shall officially communicate the decision arising from today’s meeting to all the associations in the next 24 hours.

“Meanwhile, the list of the 14 pre-qualified associations has been published on our website and other official platforms for public information,” the national commissioner stated.