New parties reject registration criteria

Leaders of 33 new political parties in Nigeria that are preparing for the coming elections have rejected the registration criteria proposed by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), officials said on Thursday. Officials said representatives of the parties who attended a meeting on Tuesday with INEC chairman, Abel Guobadia, condemned the hurdles placed by the electoral body, such as payment of specified sums of money and setting up of offices in two-thirds of the country. Instead they demanded automatic registration. "We made it clear to INEC that the conditions contained in its guidelines are absolutely unacceptable," an official of the unregistered Movement for Democracy and Justice, who was at the meeting, told IRIN. "We are also opposed to the requirement of having to win 10 percent of the seats in local government elections." He said the position was supported by the representatives of the country's three existing parties, namely, the People's Democratic Party, the Alliance for Democracy and the All People's Party, who were at the meeting. Guobadia told reporters after the meeting that INEC has agreed to review guidelines for registration that do not conform with the 1999 constitution. Under the constitution new parties are required to win 10 percent of seats in local elections to qualify to take part in state and national elections. Speaking on behalf of the unregistered parties, chairman of the National Conscience Party, Gani Fawehinmi told reporters they rejected the guidelines in entirety. "Nigeria, through INEC, should subscribe to and promote a global contest of unrestricted multi-party politics which have now been adopted and supported by even the three political parties," he said.