INEC: 75 associations seek registration
75 associations have applied for registration as political parties, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has said.
The Chief Technical Adviser to the INEC chairman, Prof. Bolade Eyinla, stated this at the opening of a two-day learning conference with the theme ‘The Regional Cost of Politics’ which was organized by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD).
Prof. Eyinla stated that already, there are 40 registered political parties in Nigeria and most of them are not known to the electorate.
“If all the requests for new parties are granted, Nigeria would have more than 100 registered political parties ahead of 2019 general elections,” he said.
While existing laws do not give INEC the latitude to restrict the political space to fewer parties in the country, Eyinla is concern about the increasing cost of politics and electioneering in Nigeria.
“A lot of money was spent on the 2015 general elections than any other election in the history of the country.
“In the last general elections in Benin Republic, the core cost was $15 million and then you had a candidate, who alone spent about $32 million. In Nigeria, our core cost was $547million. It is perhaps the most expensive elections that we have ever seen,” Prof. Eyinla noted. (Daily Trust)
