The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has
distanced itself from the activities of any of the 74 political parties it
earlier deregistered.
INEC said on Friday that the status of the parties remains
invalid pending a final decision by the supreme court.
The commission had deregistered the parties in February
2020, after citing their failure to meet certain criteria listed in the
constitution including winning at least 25 percent of the votes cast in one
state in a presidential election or 25 percent of the votes cast in one local
government area.
But some of them went to court to contest the commission’s
decision.
In August, a court of appeal sitting in Abuja said 22 of the
parties were illegally deregistered.
This was after the same court earlier validated the power of
INEC to deregister the parties while determining a case involving the National
Unity Party (NUP).
Both the commission and the NUP headed to the supreme court
in separate applications challenging the court judgements.
Festus Okoye, INEC spokesman, said in a statement that while
the final verdict is being awaited, some of the parties deregistered have been
writing the commission to inform it of their plans to conduct primary
elections.
“The Commission will continue to recognize and deal with
only the 18 registered political parties pending the final resolution and
determination of the various appeals filed and pending before the Supreme
Court,” Okoye said.
“Consequently, INEC will not monitor any purported primaries
by any of the deregistered political parties and will not issue access code to
or accept the list and particulars of candidates emanating from such
primaries.”
He noted the conflicting judgements of the court of appeal
and said it is “in the interest of the electoral process” for both matters to
be consolidated before any action is taken.
“The electoral process will be better served through a final resolution of the issues in the deregistration of political parties. It will also enable the commission to stand on firm grounds rather than pick and choose which between two conflicting decisions it should obey,” Okoye said.
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