New Parties: 14 Associations Scale First Hurdle As INEC Disqualifies 157 Others

Out of the total of 171 associations that submitted letters of intent for registration as political parties, 14 have met the requirements to proceed to the next stage while 157 others failed scale through.

The Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) National Commissioner and Chairman of its Information & Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, disclosed this in a statement issued in Abuja on Thursday.

The list of the 14 pre-qualified associations published on INEC website and other official platforms include the African Transformation Party (ATP), All Democratic Alliance (ADA),
Advance Nigeria Congress (ANC), Abundance Social Party (ASP) and African Alliance Party (AAP).

Others are Citizens Democratic Alliance (CDA), Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA), Grassroots Initiative Party (GRIP), Green Future Party (GFP), Liberation People’s Party (LPP), National Democratic Party (NDP),
National Reform Party (NRP), Patriotic Peoples Alliance (PPA), and Peoples Freedom Party (PFP).

Olumekun said the interim chairmen and secretaries of the pre-qualified associations have been invited to a briefing at the Commission’s headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday next week at 11am.

He also said 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 stated that 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.

“A total of 171 requests for registration were received. 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.

“Out of the total number of applications received, 14 associations have met the requirements to proceed to the next stage while 157 have not. The Commission shall officially communicate the decision arising from today’s meeting to all the associations in the next 24 hours.

“Meanwhile, the list of the 14 pre-qualified associations has been published on our website and other official platforms for public information.

“The interim Chairmen and Secretaries of the pre-qualified associations are invited to a briefing on Wednesday 17th September 2025 at 11am at the Commission’s Headquarters in Abuja.

“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,” Olumekeun stated.