14 Out of 171 Groups Scale INEC’s First Hurdle for Party Registration

14 Out of 171 Groups Scale INEC’s First Hurdle for Party Registration

JOEL OLADELE, Abuja 

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that only 14 out of 171 associations seeking registration as political parties have met the initial requirements to proceed to the next stage of the process.

This followed the Commission’s regular meeting held on Thursday, September 11, 2025, where it also reviewed preparations for forthcoming off-cycle governorship elections and the end-of-tenure Area Council elections in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

In a statement signed by the National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, INEC said all 171 requests were carefully examined against constitutional and legal provisions.

“Each request was assessed on the basis of its prima facie compliance with the provisions of Section 222 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), Section 79 (1, 2 and 4) of the Electoral Act 2022 and Clause 2 (i and ii) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties 2022,” Olumekun explained.

According to him, while 14 associations scaled through to the next stage, 157 failed to meet the requirements. He added that the Commission would officially notify all the groups of its decision within 24 hours.

INEC has already published the list of the 14 pre-qualified associations on its website and other official platforms.

The interim Chairmen and Secretaries of the successful groups have been invited to a briefing on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, at 11am at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja.

Olumekun clarified that the process was not yet complete, as the Commission would still conduct thorough on-site checks.

“In addition to uploading the required information to the portal, we will physically verify all claims by each association in line with our Regulations and Guidelines. The final determination of the registrability of the associations as political parties will be made after the physical verification of all their claims to determine compliance with the legal framework,” he noted.

He further stressed that political party registration remains an ongoing exercise. “Party registration is a continuous process under the law. The Commission remains open to the consideration of applications that meet the criteria as provided by law,” Olumekun said.