2019: INEC worried over 68 political parties, 100 more seeking registration

Ahead of the 2019 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has expressed worries over the rising number of political parties.

The commission fears that the number of political parties, currently 68, may pose a serious problem.

It wondering how for instance, it will divide its staff to monitor party conventions and primaries of these 68 political parties across the length and breadth of the country.

These concerns were raised by the Chief Technical Adviser to the INEC chairman, Professor Bolade Eyinla, in Abuja on Monday, when he spoke at a retreat organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru.

Delivering a keynote address with the title, ‘The Dynamics of Managing Political Parties Professionally,’ Eyinla said, “Currently there are 68 registered political parties in Nigeria. As of today, there are more than100 associations that have applied to INEC to register as political parties. This raises a number of questions which we want this retreat to address.”

Speaking further, he expressed worries over how INEC will be able to monitor the congresses, conventions and primaries of all parties contesting over 1,000 elective positions each across the nation.

“We are also going to be challenged if these 68 political parties and counting continue this way. We are just a commission. I cannot begin to imagine even as the technical adviser, how we will divide ourselves to monitor party conventions and primaries of 68 political parties across the length and breadth of this country.

“Already we have envisaged some of these challenges and we are coming up with strategies to deal with them in our election project plan.

“Ancillary to this is the fact that political party agents will also increase. I can imagine 68 political party agents in a polling unit. I think these are issues that we have to manage; but most importantly, how do we manage the ballot for 68 political parties?,” he said.

Another fear he expressed was how in an event, where a registered political party is mistakenly omitted from the ballot paper, could lead to the total cancellation of the exercise.

“I think perhaps one of the largest ballots that I have seen is that of Afghanistan where the ballot paper is nearly the size of a prayer mat.

“Given our level of literacy, I think that is going to be a major challenge and as we know, the question of exclusion is a major issue in the electoral process.

“The chairman was literally sleeping and waking with the ballot for Anambra State election to ensure that no party was excluded; to ensure that the names and logo of the parties were correct because any slip could nullify the election. So, I think there is a challenge with managing the ballot that will come with the increasing number of political parties,” he added.

READ ALSO: Dogara hits political parties, Says APC, PDP, others parade fake manifestos

Meanwhile, the Senate President, Bukola Saraki, who also spoke during the event thinks otherwise. According to him, the multiplicity of political parties was good for democracy.

The Senate President, who was represented by Senator Abdullahi Sabi, urged political parties to make sure that neglected groups, including women and persons living with disabilities, were integrated into party structures.

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, who also spoke during the event called for the need for parties to have ideologies as this would strengthen democracy and engender good governance.

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