THE Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, is to register five new associations as political parties to increase the number of political parties to 40.

Already, the Department of Political Party Registration of the INEC is ready to forward names of the five associations to the commission’s management.

Confirming the number of applications before the commission, Rotimi Oyekanmi, chief press secretary to the INEC chairman, said the process was still on, but he did not say how long the process would take.

It was learnt 91 associations applied to the INEC for registration as political parties after the 2015 general election.

This was outside 10 fresh applications seeking information on the requirements for registration as parties.

It was also learnt 43 of the 91 associations failed the initial assessment and were contacted on their status and advised accordingly.

The breakdown of the status of other associations showed eight of the remaining associations are under initial assessment.

It was gathered 22 passed the initial assessment and were directed to pay the administrative fee of N1million to obtain Form EA1. Another 21 paid the mandatory N1million administrative fee.

Five other associations collected Form EA1, but are yet to return them for processing. Seven associations are awaiting verification and processing.

Oyekanmi said the applicants had been given the template, adding that the commission still need to meet for final consideration of associations that scaled through.

“The process is on and the number of the associations applying to register as political parties keep increasing. Perhaps, it’s up to 90. I am sure they are over 90. It is like every day we are getting new applications.

“But you see, there is a template. It’s like the National University Commission, NUC, if you want to get licence for your university, you go there. They will give you what you should pay and if you satisfy all of these things, when you are taking your application, there is a template. When you are bringing your applications, the first thing for you to do is to look at the template for requirements to be registered and check those things and if you are qualified, you still have to be recommended.”

He, however, could not say how long the process would take.

—  May 15, 2017 @ 01:00 GMT