DEREGISTRATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES
The fewer the parties, the better for democratic choice
For the second time within a year, the Supreme Court last week reaffirmed the powers of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to deregister political parties that have no grassroots appeal. We hope the verdict will also compel a change in the polity so that people begin to form political parties based on shared ideals rather than for transactional purposes. There has never been a time more urgent as this for serious political parties that can aggregate ideas on how to solve the problems of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court should save itself time by consolidating the cases from the deregistered parties. Apart from the two now dismissed by the apex court, that of the Youth Party (YP) vs INEC on the same matter is still pending. When in February 2019 INEC deregistered 74 political parties, based on Section 225A of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), its chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, explained that there were 91 political parties before the 2019 general election with another one registered by court order shortly after, making a total of 92 political parties.
Unfortunately, many of the political parties are mere vehicles for seeking public offices. Indeed, what has become clear in Nigeria in recent years is the increasing desperation for power not necessarily to advance public good but rather to target the enormous spoils of office that are attached to political positions at all levels of governance. It is this same reason that drives the establishment of political parties that have, for all practical purposes, become business ventures.
As we have argued in the past, there is a fundamental reason why the best democracies in the world gravitate around two major parties. Such a choice even among the most enlightened electorate tends to be binary: either apples or oranges. But even under a multi-party arrangement, a maximum upper limit that is robust enough to accommodate all ideological options, makes more sense than what currently obtains in Nigeria where every politician aspires to have his own party. For democracy to thrive, core belief, national presence, spread of membership and basic infrastructure and not the whims of individuals should guide party registration.
The last alteration to the 1999 Constitution in 2018 specifically empowers INEC to deregister political parties on the following grounds: Breach of any of the requirements for registration as a political party; failure to win at least 25% of the votes cast in one state of the federation in a presidential election or 25% of the votes cast in one local government area in a governorship election and failure to win at least one ward in a chairmanship election, one seat in the National or State Assembly election or one seat in a councillorship election. None of the 74 deregistered parties could meet that simple requirement.
Even if people have the right to form political parties, proliferation is counterproductive to our democracy. Beyond the logistical nightmare of administering elections without creating room for endless litigations that we have witnessed over the years; a largely illiterate electorate will find it difficult making informed choices in a situation where too many parties and candidates are on the ballot. Besides, these parties are not built around any ideology or interest group and from experience, majority of them never exert any remarkable influence good enough to win elections. And they never do.
For years, INEC has been burdened with repeat elections that are needless and that trend has only multiplied as the number of political parties and candidates grew. Under what is termed ‘unlawful exclusion’, elections are often nullified on several grounds, including a wrong spelling of names, even if such candidates were electoral no-hopers. The fewer the parties, the better for democratic choice.
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For democracy to thrive, core belief, national presence, spread of membership, basic infrastructure, and not the whims of individuals should guide party registration
