[OPINION]: INEC deregistration of 74 parties: Matters arising
Last Thursday, the Independent National Electoral Commission wielded the big stick by deregistering 74 political parties in one fell swoop. This is unprecedented and not a few Nigerians are happy with INEC’s decision with many commentators even asking that the number be further pruned down to a maximum of five. What those calling for further reduction do not know or fail to understand is that the electoral management body did not just reduce the number by fiat.
Among the arguments put forward then was the fact that most of the 91 political parties that fielded over 23,000 candidates in the last general election were quite unserious as they did not campaign but were largely interested in the free publicity being given by the media and the civil society particularly during the organised political debates and voter education programmes.
To also underscore the un-seriousness of these political parties, some of them do not understand the country’s electoral law. During the last elections, a few of them fielded underage candidates. However, due to the provisions of Section 31 of the Electoral Act 2010, as amended which ousted INEC power to reject party candidates, the unqualified candidates were allowed to run in the election.
These political parties also reap bountifully in the event of inadvertent errors on their list of nominees by INEC. For instance, should there be an omission in listing their candidate on the ballot paper, they quickly rush to election tribunal to plead unlawful exclusion from the election. There have been instances when a well-conducted election gets annulled on the basis of lawful nomination and unlawful exclusion by INEC.
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