2019 Election: Over 100 parties to participate – INEC

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has said that over 100 political parties may feature on the ballot paper during the 2019 general elections.

Mahmood Yakubu, the INEC Chairman, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday at a stakeholders’ summit organised in Abuja.

The summit was organised with the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), DFID and Christian Aid Nigeria under the auspices of the Voice to the People (V2P) project.

Mr Yakubu stated that at least, 138 political associations had applied for registration as political parties.

According to Yakubu, the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, that was deployed to voter registration centres across the country have arrested over 300 foreigners attempting to register.

He said, ”As at May 24, an estimated 9 million voters were added to the voters’ register bringing the total number to an estimated 80 million.

”The commission is collaborating with security agencies and formulating administrative procedures to check incidences of vote-buying at polling centres.”

Yakubu explained that the commission does not have the powers to stop any political associations from applying to register as political parties.