Proliferation of Political Parties Ahead of 2027 Polls

Ahead of the 2027 elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission claims to have received a total of 171 letters from associations seeking to be registered as political parties. Adedayo Akinwale reports.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last week disclosed that it has received a total of 171 letters of intent for the registration of new political parties.

INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information & Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun in a statement issued last Thursday said the commission has announced a shortlist of the pre-qualified associations, which he said was being finalised for the next stage of application for registration. He disclosed that the committee reviewing the letters of intent has prepared its recommendations for final consideration by the Commission.

The letters of intent were received from political associations including African Alliance Party, National Advancement Party, Nigeria Democratic Congress, The Nigerian Convenant, Democracy for Dividends Party, National Coalition of Democrats, African Renaissance Party, Peoples Interest Movement, Rescue Party, Guardian Democratic Party, Save Nigeria Congress, National Democratic Liberation Party, National Action Congress of Nigeria, Peoples Supremacy Party, African Future Alliance Party, Freedom Alliance Party and People’s Community Development Party.

Nevertheless, the 171 letters received from associations seeking to be registered as political parties was in addition to the current 18 active parties in the country. While a multi-party system is seen as good for democracy, the proliferation of political parties, most of whom may not have capacity to win a councillorship seat is a source of concern.

At the beginning of the Fourth Republic, specifically, the 1999 elections featured only three major parties, but the number of registered parties has grown significantly over time.

In 2002, late fiery activist and senior lawyer, Chief GaniFawehinmi successfully challenged the decision of the electoral body at the time to refuse registration to his political party, the National Conscience Party (NCP) and many others on the grounds that they did not meet the pre-requisite set by the electoral body to be licensed as political parties.

In its unanimous decision, the Court of Appeal in the nation’s capital, Abuja, said the Independent National Electoral Commission’s registration guidelines and aspects of the Electoral Act of 2001 on which they were based were contrary to the constitution.

“I restrain INEC from basing the registration of political parties on the aforesaid offending provisions of the guidelines and the Electoral Act,” Justice DahiruMusdapher had ruled.

While the judgement of the court that threw open the door for anyone or any group to register political parties was hailed as victory for democracy and the freedom of association, the proliferation of political parties in every election cycle has shown that the judgement created more problems for the electoral body. If anything, it has made its work more cumbersome.

For instance, in the 2019 elections, a total of 91 political parties participated. However, after the 2019 elections, INEC deregistered 74 political parties for failing to “satisfy the requirements” of continued registration based on their poor performances during the elections.

Most of the political parties ended up adopting the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as their presidential candidate, while others adopted the candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as theirs.

While INEC has put some conditions in place  for registration as a political party, it has not really been able to sanitise the process. Political pundits believe that more strict conditions would have to be introduced to prevent associations from registering political parties that only exist on paper.

Some of the conditions for the registration of political parties are: No association by whatever name called shall be registered as a political party unless the association submits to the office of the Chairman of the Commission the following:

a) the names, residential addresses and states of origin respectively of members of its National and State Executive Committees and the records of proceedings of meeting where these Officers were elected;

b) the minutes of the meeting of members of National Executive Committee indicating approval and adoption of the name, constitution, manifesto and symbol/logo of the proposed political party;

c) the name or acronym of the association which must;

(i) not be the same as the name or acronym of an existing party or any known registered political party or too similar as to create confusion/doubt in the mind of an ordinary voter at an election;

ii) not have any ethnic, religious, professional or other sectional connotation;

Similarly, some of the guidelines for the Registration of New Political Parties are: Not give the appearance that its activities are confined to only a certain part of the country; A register showing that membership is open to every citizen of Nigeria; 

Also, a  draft copy each of the association’s Constitution and Manifesto which must contain among other things: The association’s name, symbol or logo, flag, motto, aims and objectives, the distinctive description and interpretation of the symbol or logo; provisions for periodic elections on democratic basis of the principal officers and members of the Executive Committee or other governing bodies;

Provision of an administrative structure for the association;  a provision that the membership of the National Executive or other governing bodies of the association at the National level reflect the Federal Character Principle  of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended);  a provision showing that its Constitution and Manifesto conform with the provisions of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the Electoral Act 2010{as amended), among others.

As preparation for the 2027 elections continue, it remains to be seen how many of those applications for registration of political parties will scale through INEC’s scrutiny.