The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has confirmed the receipt of letters of intent from 110 associations seeking registration as political parties ahead of future elections.
The disclosure was made by INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, on Wednesday during a meeting with the media at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
Yakubu addressed growing concerns about the commission’s handling of the applications, noting that there had been “partisan insinuations in some quarters” suggesting INEC was compromising its independence in the process.
“Nothing can be further from the truth,” Yakubu said. “Nigerians may recall that the same unfounded accusation was made under similar circumstances in 2013 that the commission was not keen on the proposed merger of political parties because INEC had ‘merged with the ruling party at the time’.”
The INEC chairman reminded Nigerians that the current electoral commission had registered the highest number of political parties in the country, and it had done so “strictly following the provision of the electoral legal framework.”
“For the 2019 General Election, there were 91 political parties and 73 presidential candidates. The Commission was criticised in some quarters for registering too many political parties. After the election, the Commission also deregistered over 70 political parties as provided by law,” he said.
Yakubu reaffirmed that INEC would remain impartial in processing the new applications: “We wish to reassure Nigerians that under the current situation, we will continue to be guided by law and act fairly to all associations seeking registration as political parties.”
“We will treat all requests fairly, irrespective of the status of their promoters, be they ordinary or prominent citizens. Nigerians will be fully briefed on the actions taken by the Commission every step of the way.”
As of June 23, 2025, Yakubu said the commission had “received letters of intent from 110 associations that wish to register as political parties. We are diligently processing the requests in line with the procedure outlined in the law as well as our Regulations and Guidelines.”
He also noted that “we have acknowledged all requests received so far except six of them received recently which will be done before the end of the week.”
Yakubu urged interested groups to consult the commission’s official resources: “Those interested in registering new political parties should refer to the handbook containing the regulations and guidelines for political parties 2022 on the commission’s website.”
He announced that for the sake of transparency, “the commission is today releasing the full list of the 110 associations seeking registration as political parties indicating their proposed names, acronyms, addresses and the names of their protem chairmen and secretaries.”
“For transparency and public information, the list will be uploaded to our website and social media platforms.”
Among the proposed names are Key of Freedom Party, Progressive Obedients Party, National Youth Alliance, Peoples Democratic Congress, All Democratic Alliance, and Advanced Democratic Alliance.
