The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has deregistered seventy-four political parties after they failed to meet constitutional requirements that determine their continuous existence and bans them from participating in subsequent elections. Of the 92 active political parties in Nigeria, INEC has deregistered 74 and leaves only eighteen political parties who had survived the deregistration process.
The commission carried out a review of the performance of political parties after the 2019 general elections to see which parties qualify to exists.
After the review, INEC said the deregistered parties breached their requirements for registration because they failed to win at least 2596 of votes cast in one State of the federation during the Presidential election, did not win one local government of a state in a governorship election and had also failed to win at least one ward in the chairmanship elections in local governments.
In addition, the Chairman of INEC, Professor Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed that some had also failed to win one seat in the National or State House of Assembly election or one seat In a Councillorshlp election since they were registered.
The chairman has however acted on his constituted rights according to Section 225A of Nigeria’s constitution which empowers the commission to register and deregister political parties in the country.
The surviving political parties include Accord Party (AP), Action Alliance (AA), African Action Congress (AAC), African Democratic Congress (ADC), African Democratic Party (ADP), All Progressives Congress (APC), All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Allied Peoples Movement (APM), Labour Party (LP), New Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Young Progressive Party (YPP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP).
Although a total of 75 parties were listed for deregistration, one of them – Action People’s Party (APP) – obtained a court order restraining the electoral umpire from deregistering it.
