The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has decried the high number of political parties in the country, saying the number could pose logistical problems during the 2019 general election.
The commission further stated that despite the nation having 68 registered political parties, as many as 100 political associations were still seeking registration as political parties.
According to The Punch, Chief Technical Adviser to the INEC Chairman, Prof. Bolade Eyinla, made this known at a retreat organised by the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru in Abuja on Monday.
He identified the logistical challenges as: printing of ballot papers, monitoring of party conventions of all parties, and rowdiness at poliing booths during elections.
Eyinla, who represented the commission, further disclosed that the problem was further compounded by the fact that the omission of any political party from the ballot box could lead to the cancellation of the whole electoral process.
He said, “Currently there are 68 registered political parties in Nigeria. As of today, there are more than 100 associations that have applied to INEC to register as political parties. This raises a number of questions which we want this retreat to address.
“We are also going to be challenged if these 68 political parties and counting continue this way. We are just a commission. I cannot begin to imagine even as the technical adviser, how we will divide ourselves to monitor party conventions and primaries of 68 political parties across the length and breadth of this country.
“Already we have envisaged some of these challenges and we are coming up with strategies to deal with them in our election project plan.
“Ancillary to this is the fact that political party agents will also increase. I can imagine 68 political party agents in a polling unit. I think these are issues that we have to manage; but most importantly, how do we manage the ballot for 68 political parties?”