INEC; 91 Political Registered Parties, Voters Registration Extended

Political parties in Nigeria has continued to increase, as the commencement of the nation's general elections draws near. It is less than 183 days to the general elections and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says it has registered 23 new political parties, raising the number of parties in Nigeria to 91.

The Commission in a statement by its spokesman, Mohammed Haruna, in Abuja said that the registration was one the decisions taken at its regular meeting held on Tuesday.
The Commission said it received 144 applications from political associations seeking registration as political parties.

“After a rigorous process of evaluation in accordance with the Constitution and Electoral Act which included assessment of the constitutions and manifestos of the intending parties and verification of membership of their executive committees and offices, the 23 associations met all the requirements and so have been registered as political parties.

“This brings the number of political parties to 91 and will be the last round of registration of parties until after the general elections on 16 February. 2019.

“This suspension is in line with Section 78 (1) of the Electoral Act, which requires all applications for registration as political party to be concluded latest six months to a general election," the statement read.

NB:INEC Extends Voters Registration

The Commission added that the new parties would receive their Certificate of Registration on Thursday at its headquarters.
The new parties are Advanced Alliance Party (AAP) , Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party (ANDP), African Action Congress (AAC), Alliance for a United Nigeria (AUN), Alliance of Social Democrats (ASD), Alliance National Party (ANP) and Allied People’s Movement (APM). Also registered were Alternative Party of Nigeria (APN), Change Nigeria Party (CNP), Congress Of Patriots (COP), Liberation Movement (LM), Movement for Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), Nigeria Community Movement Party (NCMP), Nigeria for Democracy (NFD)  and Peoples Coalition Party (PCP).

Others are Reform and Advancement Party (RAP), Save Nigeria Congress (SNC), United Patriots (UP ), United Peoples Congress (UPC), We The People Nigeria (WTPN) , YES Electorates Solidarity (YES), Youth Party (YP), and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
The Commission also approved the extension of the Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) to August 31 from August 17 it had earlier announced.