The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said it would only recognise and deal with 18 political parties and further insisted that all 74 parties that were deregistered on February 6, last year, would remain deregistered until the Supreme Court decides otherwise.
INEC through its National Commissioner and Chairman of Voter Education and Publicity Committee, Festus Okoye, has asked all deregistered political parties to await the judgement of the apex court on appeals relating to the powers of INEC to deregister political parties in accordance with section 225A of the Constitution.
“The Commission will continue to recognise and deal with only the 18 registered political parties pending the final resolution and determination of the various appeals filed and pending before the Supreme Court. Consequently, INEC will not monitor any purported primaries by any of the deregistered political parties and will not issue access code to or accept the list and particulars of candidates emanating from such primaries,”
The commission, however, stated that it was always ready to obey court orders and would abide by any judgement delivered by the Supreme Court. The electoral umpire has therefore urged the participating political parties to strictly adhere to the provisions of their constitutions on internal party administration and nomination of candidates for elections.
Mr Okoye Briefly concluded by appealing to stakeholders to support its efforts to strengthen the electoral process, noting: “These efforts presently include, but are not limited to, the initiative to expand access of voters to polling units; resumption of the continuous voter’s registration; amendment of the electoral legal framework; preparations for the conduct of the Anambra, Ekiti and Osun governorship elections and some by-elections; deepening of the use of technology in the electoral process, as well as early preparations for the 2023 general election.”
