The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on Wednesday, approved the formation of five new political parties that had fulfilled the constitutional requirements for registration.
They include the Advanced Peoples Democratic Alliance (APDA) believed to be the new party for members of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) loyal to the Ahmed Makarfi’s faction.
Four other newly registered political parties are: Young Progressive Party (YPP), New Generation Party of Nigeria (NGP), All Democratic Peoples Movement (ADPM) and Action Democratic Party (ADP).
With the latest registration, there are now 45 political parties in Nigeria.
The approval for the registration of the new political parties was contained in a statement signed by Prince Adedeji Soyebi, INEC’s National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, after the weekly meeting of the commission’s management held in Kaduna, where INEC hosted a two-day workshop to review its communication policy.
Soyebi said 95 associations had applied to the commission for registration as political parties, saying two of them voluntarily withdrew their applications.
He said the commission also reviewed, among other things, the on-going nationwide Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) exercise, which began on 27th April, 2017.
“In the meeting with the Resident Electoral Commissioners (RECs) and Administrative Secretaries, the commission received and considered submissions from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, as well as reports from some accredited observers of the CVR exercise.
He said as at Friday, June 2, a total of 760,989 persons had registered across the country.
