The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has shortlisted 14 associations for the next stage of assessment in their bid to be registered as political parties in Nigeria.
National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Sam Olumekun, announced the decision on Thursday following a meeting of the Commission in Abuja. He said the applications were drawn from 171 associations that had submitted requests to INEC.
Olumekun explained that the applications were examined against the provisions of Section 222 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), Section 79 of the Electoral Act 2022, and 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,” he said. “The Commission shall officially communicate the decision arising from today’s meeting to all the associations in the next 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the list of the 14 pre-qualified associations has been published on our website and other official platforms for public information.”
The cleared associations are the African Transformation Party (ATP), All Democratic Alliance (ADA), Advance Nigeria Congress (ANC), Abundance Social Party (ASP), African Alliance Party (AAP), Citizens Democratic Alliance (CDA), Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA), Grassroots Initiative Party (GRIP), Green Future Party (GFP), Liberation People’s Party (LPP), National Democratic Party (NDP), National Reform Party (NRP), Patriotic Peoples Alliance (PPA), and Peoples Freedom Party (PFP).
INEC also invited the interim chairmen and secretaries of the 14 associations to a briefing on Wednesday, September 17, 2025, at its headquarters in Abuja. According to the Commission, the meeting will outline the next steps, including uploading required information to its portal and undergoing physical verification of claims made by the groups.
“The final determination of the registrability of the associations as political parties will be made after the physical verification of all their claims to determine compliance with the legal framework,” Olumekun stated.
He stressed that the registration of political parties remains a continuous process under Nigerian law and that INEC will continue to consider applications that meet the criteria.
In June 2025, INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed that the Commission had received 110 letters of intent from associations seeking registration. He noted that all requests were being processed in line with the law and INEC guidelines.
“As of Monday, June 23, 2025, the Commission has received letters of intent from 110 associations that wish to register as political parties,” Yakubu said at the time. “We are diligently processing the requests in line with the procedure outlined in the law as well as our regulations and guidelines. We have acknowledged all requests received, except for six which were submitted recently. These will be acknowledged before the end of the week.”
Yakubu also advised interested groups to study the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties 2022, which are publicly available on INEC’s website.
