By Chimdiogo Amuh 

Ahead of the 2027 general elections, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has registered two new political parties, expanding Nigeria’s political space.

The newly registered parties are the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA) and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), bringing the total number of registered political parties in the country to 21.

INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, announced the development on Thursday while speaking at the Commission’s first regular consultative meeting with political parties. He explained that the DLA was registered after successfully completing INEC’s verification process, while the NDC gained registration in compliance with an order of the Federal High Court.

Despite the additions, the INEC chairman expressed concern over persistent leadership crises within political parties, describing them as a threat to constitutional democracy and the electoral process. He questioned the rationale for continually registering or retaining parties plagued by recurring internal disputes.

According to him, frequent leadership tussles often result in avoidable litigation that places unnecessary pressure on the judiciary and distracts the Commission from its core responsibility of voter mobilisation and election management.

Prof. Amupitan also drew attention to declining voter turnout in Nigeria’s elections, revealing that participation dropped from 53.7 per cent in the 2011 presidential election to 43.6 per cent in 2015, 34.7 per cent in 2019, and an all-time low of 26.7 per cent in the 2023 general election.

He stressed that technology alone cannot address voter apathy, noting that public trust is often undermined by perceptions of poor democratic dividends and doubts about the value of individual votes.

The INEC boss further reaffirmed the Commission’s readiness for the Federal Capital Territory Area Council elections scheduled for February 21, 2026, with over 1.68 million registered voters expected to participate across 2,822 polling units. He also confirmed preparations for the Ekiti State governorship election on June 20, 2026, and the Osun State governorship election on August 8, 2026.

To strengthen the credibility of future polls, INEC announced plans for a nationwide voter revalidation exercise aimed at cleaning up the voters’ register of about 93.4 million names by removing duplicates and deceased persons.

In his remarks, the National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Dr Yusuf Mamman Dantalle, called on INEC to remain neutral and strictly guided by party constitutions in handling internal party matters. He also advocated major electoral reforms, including the scrapping of State Independent Electoral Commissions and empowering INEC to conduct all elections nationwide.

Dantalle further urged that real-time transmission of election results to the IReV portal be made mandatory and proposed that all elections be conducted on the same day to reduce costs, curb voter fatigue and prevent bandwagon effects.