The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Thursday exercised its constitutional powers to deregister political parties that failed to meet established criteria.

At a press conference in Abuja, Mahmood Yakubu, INEC chairman, announced that following an assessment of the 92 political parties in Nigeria, the commission decided to re-register 74 of them.

He said the affected parties failed to meet the criteria provided for by section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) which include: “breach of any of the requirements for registration as a party, failure to win at least 25 percent of the votes cast in one state in a presidential election or 25 percent of the votes cast in one local government area, and failure to win at least one ward in a Chairmanship election, one seat in the national or state assembly election or one seat in a councilorship election”.

By the end of its assessment, INEC said only 18 political parties survived, including one registered after the elections and another that obtained a court order to avoid being deregistration.

Here are the remaining 18 parties:

(The Cable)