BEVERLY HILLS, June 05, (THEWILL) – Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has revealed that the electoral body has received 95 applications for new political parties ahead of the 2019 general elections.
Mahmood, addressing Journalists on Monday in Kaduna, shortly after the opening ceremony of the Workshop to Review INEC Communications Policy, said that the applications will be looked into at a meeting of the Commission Wednesday in Kaduna and those successful will be announced soon.
“As at last week, we had received 95 applications for new political parties. At the end of this workshop, there is going to be a retreat on Wednesday to review the ongoing voters registration followed by a meeting of the Commission here in Kaduna. At the end of the meeting of the Commission, we will issue a release on the issue of parties.
“I have said that we would be holding a mid-quarterly review of our activities and preparation as we head towards the 2019 general elections after every six weeks, by Wednesday, the mid-quarterly review will come up here in Kaduna on the ongoing continuous voters’ registration nationwide.”
The INEC Chair declared that since the 2015 general elections, significant changes have taken place in the political and electoral arena as he spoke on the essence of the workshop held with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
“While the current policy has served the Commission, it is obvious that a review is necessary as we prepare for the 2019 general elections. Such a review is significant in order to achieve four objectives; a comprehensive review of the policy to determine what worked and what needed to fine-tune,” he added.
“Secondly, the need to examine the extent to which the policy has enabled the Commission to effectively communicate with the public. To determine the extent to which the policy has facilitated a more robust internal communication within the Commission and to appraise the effectiveness of a sustained stakeholder engagement between the Commission and relevant stakeholders.”
