Nigeria now has 45 political parties as INEC registers 5 more groups

With the registration of the five new parties, Nigeria now has 45 political parties.

The five parties were registered out of the 95 political associations that applied for registration as parties with the Commission.

This registration of the five new political parties was contained in a late night statement issued by INEC and signed by the national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee of the commission, Prince Adedeji Soyebi.

According to the statement, “At present, 95 Associations have applied to the Commission for registration as political parties. Two of the associations voluntarily withdrew their applications.

“The Commission today approved the applications of five of the associations which have fulfilled the constitutional requirements for registration”, it said.

The newly registered parties are; Young Progressive Party (YPP), Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance (APDA, New Generation Party of Nigeria (NGP), All Democratic Peoples Movement (ADPM) and Action Democratic Party (ADP).

According to the statement, “The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) held its usual weekly meeting today (yesterday) and reviewed, among other things, the on-going nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, which began on 27th April 2017.

“In the meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and Administrative Secretaries, the Commission received and considered submissions from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, as well as reports from some accredited observers of the CVR exercise.

“The Commission noted the challenges encountered so far, and is addressing them.

“As at Friday 2nd June 2017, a total of 760,989 persons have registered across the country, made up of 59. 5 percent males and 40.5 percent females. So far, 31,808 persons have collected their PVCs while 34, 560 others applied for transfer of Polling Units.

“Due to budgetary constraints, the Commission cannot for now decentralize to the Registration Area level. However, due considerations shall be given to certain areas with peculiar challenges.

“The Commission decided that, in view of the Anambra State governorship election scheduled for 17th November 2017, the CVR will be decentralized to the Registration Area (Ward) level from 10th to 16th August, 2017. The same consideration shall be given to Ekiti and Osun states which have governorship elections in 2018,” it said.