The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) said it lacked the constitutional authority to de-register any of the country’s current 91 political parties.
Muhammed Haruna, the INEC Federal Commissioner in charge of Nasarawa, Kogi and Kwara States, made this known in Lokoja on Monday as he declared a post-election review conference on the last general elections to be open.
Mr Haruna said Nigerians ‘ appeal for a decrease in the amount of registered parties could only be made through a constitutional amendment.
He agreed that the provisions in the 1999 Constitution stating that parties must be national in outlook and have Abuja headquarters had led to unexpected issues but clarified that INEC was powerless.
The Commissioner called for a consensus among stakeholders to resolve the problem, explaining that the only way out was constitutional amendment.
Mr Haruna recognized logistics as the INEC’s major challenge in conducting the last general election, stating that measures would be taken to avoid a reoccurrence.
On the recently released report on the last general election by European Union Observers, the Commissioner said all the problems raised in the study were outside the INEC’s purview.
He said the review meeting was organized to define election success factors to consolidate and sustain them and share understanding between employees and important stakeholders.
In addition, Kogi State’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, James Apam, admitted to security lapse during the state’s last election.
He said steps would be made before the state governorship election of November 16 to correct this and other recognized regions of failure.
