INEC refuses to register new parties

By Eromo Egbejule,
WorldNewsVine, Nigeria

New political parties will not be registered six months before the elections, Ibrahim Bawa, the director of legal services in the Independent National Electoral Commission, has said.

Mr. Bawa told the News Agency of Nigeria in Abuja that some applications submitted before the deadline, are however being considered. He said the commission has registered a total of 62 political parties, although no application that came after the dissolution of the former INEC board will be considered.

Mr. Bawa said the 2010 Electoral Act did not make any provision for funding political parties, an indication that the provision has been removed from the constitution. He said that perhaps this was as a result of the fact that some parties usually “disappear” after collecting the grants, which have also become a source of internal crisis within the parties.

Meanwhile, the long awaited timetable for the 2011 general elections will be out before September 11, a source close to the commission has said.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the delay in releasing the election guidelines was caused by the late release of the Electoral Act, “Election timetable is a public document that will not be released in secret, the activity must be adequately covered by the media,” he said.

He also said the commission had to ensure that there were no discrepancies in the content of the timetable.

The release of the INEC timetable for the 2011 general elections has long been a source of speculation, with a section of the media reporting that the timetable will be out today.

Posted by Egbejule Eromo on September 1, 2010. Filed under Africa Regional News,Headline News - Africa,International News,International Politics,News - Africa,Nigeria,Politics - Africa,WorldNewsVine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.