Yemi Adedeji, Abuja
THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says that the 23 newly registered political parties will get their certificate of registration on Thursday.
INEC said that the newly registered parties bring the number of political parties to 91, adding that it would be the last round of registration of parties until after the general elections on February16, 2019.
The newly registered parties include; Advanced Alliance Party (AAP), Advanced Nigeria Democratic Party (ANDP), African Action Congress (AAC), Alliance for a United Nigeria (AUN), Alliance of Social Democrats (ASD) , Alliance National Party (ANP), Allied People’s Movement (APM), Alternative Party of Nigeria (APN), Change Nigeria Party (CNP), Congress Of Patriots (COP), Liberation Movement (LM).
Others include, Movement for Restoration and Defence of Democracy (MRDD), Nigeria Community Movement Party (NCMP), Nigeria for Democracy (NFD), Peoples Coalition Party (PCP), Reform and Advancement Party (rapidly), Save Nigeria Congress (SNC), United Patriots (UP), United Peoples Congress (UPC), We The People Nigeria (WTPN), YES Electorates Solidarity YES) Youth Party (YP) and Zenith Labour Party (ZLP)
Mohammed Kudu Haruna, the National Commissioner and Member, Voter Education & Publicity Committee, had in a statement issued late night on Tuesday that the commission at its regular meeting on Tuesday took a number of decisions, including extending the Continuous Voters Registration exercise.
He stated: “The Commission approved the registration of 23 new political parties. It had received a total of 144 applications from political associations seeking registration as political parties.
“After a rigorous process of evaluation in accordance with the Constitution and Electoral Act which included assessment of the constitutions and manifestos of the intending parties and verification of membership of their executive committees and offices, the 23 associations met all the requirements and so have been registered as political parties.
“This suspension is in line with Section 78 (1) of the Electoral Act, which requires all applications for registration as political party to be concluded latest six months to a general election.
“The newly registered political parties will receive their Certificates of Registration from the Commission on Thursday, 16th August 2018 at the Commission’s Headquarters,” Haruna added.
He noted that since the Commission issued the timetable and schedule of activities for the 2019 general elections on the 9th of January 2018, that the first of 14 activities in that timetable is scheduled for Friday, 17th August 2018 in accordance with Section 30 (1) of the Electoral Act, 2010 (as amended).
Haruna said that this activity kick-starts the countdown to the 2019 general elections.
He also said that the CVR has been extended by two weeks, adding that the Commission has registered an additional 12, 139,061 new voters.