The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has revealed that only 14 out of 171 associations have met the requirements for political party registration and have been cleared to proceed to the next stage.
The commission added that a total of 157 associations failed its requirements for political party registration.
The 14 associations that scaled the first hurdle according to the commission are: African Transformation Party (ATP), All Democratic Alliance (ADA), Advance Nigeria Congress (ANC), Abundance Social Party (ASP), African Alliance Party (APP), Citizens Democratic Alliance (CDA).
Others are: Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA), Grassroots Initiative Party (GRIP), Green Future Party (GFP), Liberation Peoples Party (LPP), National Reform Party (NRP), Patriotic Peoples Alliance (PPA), and Peoples Freedom Party (PFP).
INEC National Commissioner and Chairman, Information & Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun in a statement issued Thursday said the Commission would officially communicate the decision arising from its meeting to all the associations in the next 24 hours.
He noted: “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.
“Out of the total number of applications received, 14 associations have met the requirements to proceed to the next stage while 157 have not.
“Meanwhile, the list of the 14 pre-qualified associations has been published on our website and other official platforms for public information.
“The interim Chairmen and Secretaries of the pre-qualified associations are invited to a briefing on Wednesday 17th September 2025 at 11a.m at the Commission’s Headquarters in Abuja.”
Olumekun said in addition to uploading the required information to the portal, they will physically verify all claims by each association in line with our Regulations and Guidelines.”
The electoral body added that the final determination of the registrability of the associations as political parties would be made after the physical verification of all their claims to determine compliance with the legal framework.
It also reiterated that party registration is a continuous process under the law, adding that the Commission remained open to the consideration of applications that meet the criteria as provided by law.