INEC does not need fresh laws to reduce political parties

“We also submitted extensive proposals for the improvement of the electoral legal framework for its consideration. We were assured by the leadership of the last National Assembly that work on the electoral legal framework will be concluded by December 2016. Unfortunately, the process dragged on for so long and became even more difficult to conclude as the general elections approached. 

“We will also hold extensive meetings with political parties, civil society, security agencies, the media as well as other stakeholders as part of the Commission’s commitment to the continuous improvement of the electoral process in Nigeria. Immediately thereafter, we shall engage with the leadership of the 9th National Assembly. There is so much work to do but little time ahead of us”, he stated.

We’ll axe dormant parties  

Speaking in Makurdi, Benue state at state level review of the 2019 general elections, national commissioner and chairman Information and Voter Education Committee (IVEC) Festus Okoye said Nigerians must engage in root and branch review of the number of registered parties in Nigeria. 

“The Nigerian people need political parties that can bid for political power and not mere commercial platforms for hire. Some of the political parties are mere platforms and have no concrete and visible presence in most states of the federation.

“The presence of too many political parties on our ballot papers has in some instances confused some of our compatriots that are not well endowed in literacy. It has bloated the ballot papers and result sheets and trucking them to the polling units has become a logistics nightmare”, Okoye said.

The national commissioner stated that the Commission would “present alternatives to the Nigerian people including alteration of the constitutional regime that ties registration of political parties to visible, verifiable and concrete presence and structures in at least half of the states of the federation.”

Does INEC need constitution amendment to reduce parties?

Immediate past deputy president of the senate, Ike Ekweremadu, does not think so. He says INEC does not lack the powers to de-register political parties.

According to the former DSP the constitution amendments carried out by the 8th National Assembly had substantially addressed the problem of proliferation of political parties in Nigeria.

He said all that the INEC needed to do is look at the various at the provisions of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (Fourth Alteration, No. 9) Act published in Official Gazette No. 77 Vol. 105 to be guided properly on how to effect the de-registration of non-performing political parties.

About a fortnight ago, INEC commissioner in charge of Nasarawa, Kogi, and Kwara states, Muhammed Haruna, had lamented that the commission lacked the legal powers to de-register political parties. The commission had complaint that the large numbers of political parties had constituted huge logistics problems.

Accordingly, the Foreign Observer Mission had suggested some reforms to enable the electoral body to cut down on the number political parties for easy management during elections.

But Ekweremadu dismissed the claimed lack of legal powers to effect the cut on the numbers of parties stressing that available provisions were enough for the INEC to explore without further constitution amendments.

“The size of our political parties constitutes a logistical challenge to the election management body. More electorate now find it difficult to identify the logos of their preferred political parties.

“The ballots and result sheets are getting too long and unwieldy.  It also has cost and time implications on elections.

“However, I believe INEC’s concern has already been substantially addressed by the 1999 Constitution as amended by the 8th National Assembly and assented by President Muhammadu Buhari.

“We inserted a new Section 225A, which provides that the INEC shall have the power to deregister political parties for breach of any of the requirements for registration and failure to win at least 25 per cent of votes cast in one state of the federation in a presidential election or 25 per cent of votes cast in at least one local government in a governorship election.

“It further empowers INEC to de-register any party that fails to win at least one ward in the Chairmanship election or one seat in the National Assembly or State House of Assembly election or one seat in the Councillorship election.

“What it means is that a political party may continue to exist. But once it appears on the ballot, it becomes compulsory for it to meet certain benchmarks to continue to exist.

“So, it is incumbent on INEC to filter out and de-register those political parties that appeared on the presidential election ballot but did not garner at least 25 per cent of votes in at least one state of the federation.

“It should also look at parties that contested election in the states and de-register those political parties that did not poll up to 25 per cent of votes in at least one local government area in those states they contested an election.

“The idea is to encourage political parties to see an election as a serious democratic exercise and to confine themselves to the level of election they have reasonable structures, support base, and resources to win or show substantial strength; otherwise our elections will become unmanageable at a point”, he said in the statement.

He equally recalled that efforts to check the mushrooming of political parties started in the 6th National Assembly in 2010 by the stopping of subventions by INEC to political parties.

Femi Falana

Last March, Femi Falana, SAN had posited in a piece titled “INEC’s power to deregister political parties”, that the law already grants INEC the powers to de-register political parties.

He adduced the Fourth alteration to the Constitution, Section 225 thereof,  wherein it is stated that INEC is empowered to de-register political parties on the following grounds: “(a) a breach of any of the requirements for registration; (b) failure to win at least 25 per cent of votes cast in: (i) one state of the Federation in a presidential election; or (ii) one local government of a state in a governorship election; (c) failure to win at least (i) one ward in the chairmanship election; (ii) one seat in the national or state House of Assembly election; or (iii) one seat in the councillorship election.”

Parties agree

The National Rescue Movement (NRM) national chairman, Senator Saidu Dansadau, is of the view that INEC has the necessary laws and powers to effect such but regretted that the electoral umpire lacks the political will to cut down on the numbers of existing political parties.  

In the same vein, the Social Democratic Party national chairman, Prof Tunde Adeniran, said 91 political parties were too many and should be reduced.

“To me, the high number of political parties we have is a burden to INEC and even the country. I do not believe in the proliferation of parties being used as instruments of convenience by some individuals. I believe parties revolve around ideologies – what you believe in and what they want to offer Nigerians. Parties that feel the same way that have similar commitments should come together.

“The proliferation of political parties is not in the national interest and it is not in the interest of democracy either. It makes mockery of the whole democratic system. When some people, who do not even understand what political parties stand for, are establishing various political parties, and sometimes some of the parties do not even stand for anything.

“I believe INEC has its own rules and guidelines for these political parties. Let INEC look into this and see what can be done. If the law empowers it to deregister the parties, it should go ahead and do that. But it should not act outside the law.”

Conclusion

Will the INEC take the bulls by the horns? Will they muster the political will and act without seeking fresh amendments and in fact new laws permitting them to prune the numbers of political parties? These questions are necessary in view of the recent revelation by the INEC chairman that there are at present more political associations queuing for registration as parties than those already registered.

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