THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on Tuesday, said it had received applications from 80 new groups that are seeking registration as political parties ahead of the 2019 general elections.
INEC which made the disclosure at a National Stakeholders Forum on Elections, organised by a coalition of more than 70 Civil Society Organizations in Nigeria, said it was also besieged with demands by individuals supporting for independent candidates to be permitted to contest in the next elections.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, in his keynote introduction at the occasion, said the commission would keep on registering new political parties until the deadline stipulated in the Electoral Act for conclusion of the registration procedure.
Recall that INEC had on December 15, endorsed the enrollment of 21 new political parties, bringing the aggregate number of enlisted parties in the nation to 67.
Tending to the Nigerian Civil Society Situation Room in Abuja, Prof. Mahmood who was spoken to by a National Commissioner at INEC, Mr. Kunle Ogunmola, said the constituent body was worried about how it would configuration ticket papers for the 2019 surveys to suit all the new political gatherings.
The INEC supervisor kept up that the current governorship decision in Anambra State was hard for the commission considering that it hosted to accomodate 37 political gatherings that took an interest in the appointive exercise.
He stated: “As it stands today, 80 more groups are seeking registration as political parties. We will continue to register them until the time scheduled by the Electoral Act for us to stop.The issue of Independence candidacy is still there too.
“Right now we are thinking of how to design our ballot papers to take care of all the registered political parties. So far, the hardest was the Anambra election where 37 political parties fielded candidates”.
On the issue double registration by Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello, the commission said it may re-visit the case-file when the tenure of the governor who it said is still enjoying immunity, expires.
“Like it was stated in a press release we issued earlier, the Kogi state governor is enjoying immunity for now, but after his tenure, maybe the issue will be taken over from there”.
INEC said it was determined to ensure that the 2019 elections are free, fair and credible, saying it would give special attention to the voters’ register.
“We are presently carrying out daily registration of voters and the process will last till sometime in 2018. The exercise is also for those that did not register before and transfering of voters from their original point of registration to their new residence.
“We hope that by 2019, we will perfect the electronic transmission of results. We started it with the Anambra election and it was a success”, INEC chairman added.
