The Independent National Electoral
Commission (INEC) on Tuesday in Abuja said
it has received 32 applications from various
associations for registration as political parties. The commission, in its daily bulletin, quoted
INEC Chairman Prof. Mahmood Yakubu,
disclosing this during the the second quarterly
consultative meeting with the Chairmen and
Secretaries of registered political parties. Yakubu, who said that the applications were
being processed, assured political parties that
the commission remains committed to the
opening up of the democratic space in line with
the electoral law and guidelines. He also disclosed that commission would take
further administrative action against its staff
found culpable in the alleged involvement of
subversion of 2015 General Elections through
cash inducement. “We will not hesitate to interdict staff where
prima facie cases have been established
against them by EFCC and immediately
terminate the appointments of those indicte.” He said that INEC legal team and the police
had successfully secured the conviction of 42
election offenders in the Minjibir Constituency,
Kano state, by-election in spite of its severe
constraints. “This is the highest number of convictions in a
single case ever achieved by the
Commission.” Yakubu said that the commission would
welcome suggestions from political parties in
areas of amendment considered important for
inclusion in the comprehensive proposal for
the amendment of the Electoral Act. Yakubu, however, decried the low turnout of
voters in elections conducted by the
Commission in the aftermath of the 2015
General Elections. He urged political parties to intensify voter
mobilization ahead of the Edo and Ondo
governorship elections. “We urge political parties to intensify your
voter mobilization effort in order to galvanize
the electorate to the polling units. The
Commission will continue to intensify efforts
towards voter education.” He expressed INEC’s desire to see greater
participation of the marginalized and under-
represented groups in the electoral process,
adding that political parties have the biggest
role to play in that regard. “As we all know, political parties offer the only
platform for contest to public office under our
Constitution. “Women, Youths and People With Disabilities
are noticeable more by their under-
representation in elective offices”. On the deployment of ICT in the electoral
process, Yakubu assured that all avenues
necessary were being explored to address the
challenges arising from the functionality of the
Smart Card Reader. He further said that the Commission had
designed a portal from which all registered
voters could confirm and verify their
registration online ahead of elections. He added that with the portal voters would also
be able to transfer their registration from one
point to another online.(NAN)

Source: http://www.leadership.ng/news/534034/inec-receives-32-fresh-applications-registration-political-parties

This country absolutly needs new parties right this time, so what exactly INEC still waiting for to register them? We really tired with these so called APC PDP...

Wow that number is much ooo