The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC will today, release 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.
INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu disclosed this today during the Second quarterly meeting with the media Executives on Wrdnesday, 25th June 2025, announcing that the Commission is now in a position to conduct the bye-elections and to resume the nationwide CVR. The Commission met yesterday and we are finalising the details of the two activities which will be made public in the next 24 hours.
Prof Yakubu said the reason for the release is for transparency and public information, the list will be uploaded to our website and social media platforms shortly while hard copies are included in your folders for this meeting.
He announced that as at Monday, 23rd June 2025, the Commission has received letters of intent from 110 associations that wish to register as political parties. "We are dilligently processing the requests in line with the procedure outlined in the law as well as our Regulations and Guidelines.
"We have acknowledged all requests received so far except six of them received recently which will be done before the end of the week. For emphasis, I wish to inform Nigerians, particularly those interested in registering new political parties, that the handbook containing the Regulations and Guidelinesfor Political Parties 2022 is already available on the Commission’s website.
Today’s meeting is holding in the middle of two electoral activities. First is the conduct of primaries for the Area Council election in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) which, by our Timetable and Schedule of Activities, ends on Monday 30th June 2025.
"As you are aware, the election will be held in 68 constituencies made up of Chairmen and their Deputies for the six Area Councils, namely Abaji, the Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Bwari, Gwagwalada, Kuje and Kwali as well as 62 Wards drawn on the basis of 10 Wards for each Area Council, except AMAC which has 12 Wards on account of its population. The full delimitation details for the FCT are available on our website.
"The second electoral activity is the forthcoming Anambra State Governorship election. Again, as you are already aware, campaign in public by political parties commenced exactly two weeks ago on 11th June 2025 and will continue until midnight of Thursday 6th November 2025 i.e. 24 hours prior to Election Day.
"The Commission will continue to update you on these and other electoral activities. I urge you to monitor these activities. At the same time, I wish to appeal to you to promptly upload your applications for accreditation of media personnel for the Anambra State Governorship election holding on Saturday 8th November 2025 as soon as the portal opens so that we can process and deliver your accreditation tags well ahead of the election.
"Clearly, one of the topical issues on election administration in our country today is the status of the letters of intent we received from associations seeking registration as political parties amidst partisan insinuations in some quarters that the Commission is equivocating on the matter in a manner that compromises our independence.
Nothing can be further from the truth. 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.
For the record, the present Commission registered the largest number of political parties in Nigeria 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.