The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has registered two new political parties—the Democratic Leadership Alliance (DLA) and the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC)—ahead of the 2027 general election, bringing the total number of registered parties to 21. The announcement was made by INEC Chairman, Prof. Joash Amupitan, SAN, during the Commission’s first regular consultative meeting with political parties in Abuja.
The DLA successfully completed INEC’s verification process, while the NDC’s registration followed compliance with a Federal High Court directive. However, Prof. Amupitan used the platform to express serious concern over persistent internal leadership conflicts within several existing political parties. He warned that frequent litigations stemming from these disputes burden the judiciary and divert INEC’s resources from its core electoral duties.
“Our collective commitment to the integrity of the electoral process is being challenged by the unfortunate and increasingly frequent leadership crises within political parties,” Amupitan stated. He noted that such conflicts often lead to court battles, hamper effective voter mobilisation, and raise questions about the continued registration of parties with recurring governance issues.
Amupitan also highlighted a troubling decline in national voter participation. He presented data showing a steady drop in presidential election turnout from 53.7% in 2011 to a record low of 26.7% in 2023. He stressed that technology alone cannot reverse voter apathy, which is often driven by eroded public trust and a perceived lack of democratic benefits. “We must change this narrative together,” he said.
In preparation for upcoming polls, INEC confirmed readiness for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Area Council Elections on February 21, 2026, with 1,680,315 registered voters across 2,822 polling units. The Commission also outlined plans for the Ekiti State Governorship Election on June 20, 2026, and the Osun State Governorship Election on August 8, 2026.
To ensure credibility for these elections and the 2027 General Election, INEC announced a nationwide Voter Revalidation Exercise. This initiative aims to clean the current voters’ register of 93.4 million entries by removing duplicates and deceased persons.
Responding, the National Chairman of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Dr. Yusuf Mamman Dantalle, urged INEC to maintain strict neutrality and adhere to party constitutions to avoid bias allegations. He renewed IPAC’s call for sweeping electoral reforms, specifically advocating for the scrapping of State Independent Electoral Commissions (SIECs) and empowering INEC to conduct all elections nationwide. Dantalle also proposed mandatory real-time transmission of results to the INEC Result Viewing (IReV) portal and holding all elections on a single day to reduce costs, prevent bandwagon effects, and address voter fatigue.
These developments underscore the mounting challenges and strategic recalibrations within Nigeria’s electoral landscape as the nation progresses towards the 2027 polls.
