INEC approves 14 new party requests

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has approved the application of 14 out of the 171 requests for registration as political parties that were received.

The Commission announced this Thursday at the end of its regular meeting.

A statement by INEC National Commissioner and Chairman of the Information and Voter Education, Sam Olumekun said in addition to reviewing preparations for forthcoming off-cycle governorship elections and the end-of-tenure Area Council election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), the meeting also considered the report of its Committee on the Review of Letters of Intent from associations seeking registration as political parties.

“A total of 171 requests for registration were received. Each request was assessed on the basis of its prima facie compliance with the provisions of Section 222 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), Section 79 (1, 2 and 4) of the Electoral Act 2022 and Clause 2 (i and ii) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties 2022,” the statement said.

“Out of the total number of applications received, 14 associations have met the requirements to proceed to the next stage while 157 have not.

“The Commission shall officially communicate the decision arising from today’s meeting to all the associations in the next 24 hours.

“Meanwhile, the list of the 14 pre-qualified associations has been published on our website and other official platforms for public information ,” it added.

Olumekun also announced the invitation of the interim Chairmen and Secretaries of the pre-qualified associations to a briefing on Wednesday 17th September 2025 at 11am at the Commission’s Headquarters in Abuja.

“In addition to uploading the required information to the portal, we will physically verify all claims by each association in line with our Regulations and Guidelines.

“The final determination of the registrability of the associations as political parties will be made after the physical verification of all their claims to determine compliance with the legal framework.

“We wish to reiterate that party registration is a continuous process under the law. The Commission remains open to the consideration of applications that meet the criteria as provided by law,” the statement read.