By: Mercy Peter
The Independent National Electoral Commission, Wednesday 25 June 2025 said it received 110 applications from associations to be registered as political parties.
INEC Chairman, Yakubu Mahmood who disclosed this, said the commission is diligently processing the requests, in line with the procedure outlined in the law, “as well as our “regulations and guidelines.
INEC is empowered by the law to register and regulate political parties in the country.
INEC also has the power to de-register any party that fails to meet the minimum criteria for political parties.
Mahmood said: “ As at Monday, 23rd June 2025, the Commission has received letters of intent from 110 associations that wish to register as political parties. We are dilligently processing the requests in line with the procedure outlined in the law as well as our Regulations and Guidelines.
“We have acknowledged all requests received so far except six of them received recently which will be done before the end of the week. For emphasis, I wish to inform Nigerians, particularly those interested in registering new political parties, that the handbook containing the Regulations and Guidelinesfor Political Parties 2022is already available on the Commission’s website. “
Mahmood also said that the Commission will.be make public full list of the 110 associations seeking registration as political parties indicating their proposed names, acronyms, addresses and the names of their protem Chairmen and Secretaries.”
This he said will be done for the sake of “transparency and public information, the list will be uploaded to our website and social media platforms shortly.
INEC boss also used the opportunity to debunk claims in some quarters that the “Commission is equivocating on the matter in a manner that compromises our independence.”
He explained that the same accusation was peddled in 2013, claiming that the Commission was not keen on the proposed merger of political parties because INEC had “merged with the ruling party”.
He said this is further from the truth; stressing that “the issue of registration of new party has become one of the topical issues on election administration in the country as at today.”
“ For the record, the present Commission registered the largest number of political parties in Nigeria strictly following the provision of the electoral legal framework. For the 2019 General Election, there were 91 political parties and 73 presidential candidates. The Commission was criticised in some quarters for registering too many political parties. After the election, the Commission also deregistered over 70 political parties as provided by law.”
He therefore reassured Nigerians “that under the current situation, we will continue to be guided by law and act with fairness to all associations seeking registration as political parties. We will treat all requests fairly irrespective of the status of their promoters, be they ordinary or prominent citizens. Nigerians will be fully briefed of the actions taken by the Commission every step of the way.”
