The plan to register new political parties

(INEC), Professor Mahmood Yakubu, recently disclosed the agency’s plan to register new political parties. Speaking at the second quarterly consultative meeting with the chairmen and secretaries of registered political parties, Yakubu said that 32 applications have been received so far, and are currently being processed.

While we welcome INEC’s commitment to its statutory responsibility of register­ing political parties, we are constrained to caution that this is a responsibility that it must discharge with restraint.

Sections 221 – 226 of the 1999 Consti­tution (as amended) provide details of what any group of persons or associa­tions requires before seeking registration as a political party in the country. Even though some of the new applications will likely meet the legal requirements for registration, we cannot but wonder about the motivations for the registration of new parties.

The INEC chief has said that the new parties will further open up the demo­cratic space in the country. But, many Ni­gerians would ordinarily have expected the new applicants to find accommoda­tion in some of the 30 or so political par­ties already registered in Nigeria. There is genuine fear that Nigeria will end up with an unduly large number of parties, which could further complicate our voting pro­cess. There are yet other fears that the new applications may be coming from ele­ments within the nation’s leading political parties, with objectives that may not be in the larger interest of the country.

Looking back, we have had a culture of not having too many political parties con­testing for power in any political dispen­sation. In the first Republic, it was mostly the Big Three: The Northern Peoples Congress (NPC), the Action Group (AG) and the National Council for Nigerian Citizens (NCNC). In the Second Repub­lic, five, and later six (adding the National Advanced Party (NAP), were registered. Then, the government-decreed two par­ties, Social Democratic Party {SDP} and National Republican Convention (NRC) were registered in the ill-fated Third Re­public.

Now, the parties have greatly increased in number. There is no history to sup­port the notion that we do well under a multiplicity of political parties. On the contrary, most political actors and par­ties tend to gravitate towards the party in power.

While it is important for INEC to pro­mote plurality of choices and discourage the tendency towards a one-party state, it should thoroughly interrogate the real in­tentions of those seeking to register new parties. The sheer number of applica­tions is alarming and INEC has said that the number is “rising.” If all the applica­tions are successful in their legitimate quest, the country could perhaps be burdened with up to 62 political parties. That, in our opinion, will be too many, as it will make our political space unwieldy.

It will also be very bad if political par­ties with unhealthy motives are regis­tered. Today, we can talk definitively about two major political parties: the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the main opposition Peoples Demo­cratic Party (PDP). We also have the smaller All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the Peoples Progressive Alli­ance (PPA) and the Labour Party (LP). Where are the other 25 or so registered parties?

That is the question INEC must an­swer in its present quest to register more parties. While the electoral body wants to fulfill its constitutional obligation to these applicants, it also has a higher re­sponsibility to maintain a healthy politi­cal space. There is the need to maintain a delicate balance, and INEC must be on top of its game.

We believe that even now, INEC has more pressing challenges than register­ing new political parties. Some of them as enumerated by the INEC boss at the forum include concluding the many in­conclusive and re-run elections in sever­al states, preparing and ensuring a good outing in the coming elections in Edo and Ondo States, and most importantly, cleaning up its process to ensure that it does not regress on the substantial gains of the 2015 general elections. These are critical issues to which Nigerians expect the agency to direct its attention.

Simply put, we have a more urgent need to strengthen the existing politi­cal parties and our electoral system. The registration of new parties should not be a priority. Our democratic culture needs to mature and be deepened to ensure that it delivers acceptable outcomes in line with best global practices.

These are herculean tasks for all stake­holders in the democratic process, and INEC must be seen to be actively com­mitted to achieving this objective.