The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC says Nigeria may go into 2023 general elections with over two hundred political parties on the ballot papers and result sheets.
INEC’s national commissioner, Festus Okoye announced this in Abuja at an Electoral Reform Round-table organised by the Nigeria Civil Society Situation Room and the Kofi Annan Foundation.
Okoye, who represented the commission’s Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, also said INEC would put all the recommendations made by both international and domestic observers into the overall framework of recommendations that would be sent to the National Assembly for the reform of the election process.
He explained that INEC is also flagging off the whole issue about the number of political parties in Nigeria.
However, a former Chairman of INEC, Attahiru Jega while speaking at the first session of the round-table, said the focus should not really be on the number of political parties in the country, but rather what should be the criteria for being on the ballot paper.
