The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has explained the rationale behind its decision to deregister 74 political parties.
According to the Chairman of the electoral umpire, Yakubu Mahmood, the decision to deregister the parties was as a result of the performance of the parties in the 2019 general elections which he described as poor, and the court-ordered rerun elections as a result of various litigations.
He further explained that the 74 political parties did not satisfy the requirements of the Fourth Alteration to the Constitutional Electoral Act 2010 (as amended).
“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 in the Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), which coincided with the 2019 general election. It should be noted that the FCT is the only part of the country where INEC is empowered by the Constitution to conduct Local Government elections.
The Commission has determined that eighteen (18) political parties have fulfilled the requirements for an existence based on Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) as follows:
The existing political parties now are: Accord, (A); Action Alliance, (AA); African Action Congress (AAC), African Democratic Congress (ADC), African Democratic Party (ADP) and All Progressive Congress (APC),
There are also All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA); Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Labour Party (LP), National Rescue Movement (NNPP), National Rescue Movement (NRM),
The others are Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young Progressive Party (YPP), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP) and Boot Party.
