INEC ready to delist many parties

The Independent National Electoral Commission has said it will  review the  spending of the  parties that participated in the general elections.

The National Commissioner and Chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, Mr Festus Okoye, told the Saturday PUNCH.

According  him the  commission would commence the process of delisting weak  parties at the conclusion of the supplementary elections and petitions filed at various electoral tribunals.

“The commission is tracking campaign spending by the  parties using its tracking devices. The commission will review the campaign spending of the parties at the conclusion of the current electoral  process,” he said.

He was worried at the attitude of some politicians he said are making  moves to frustrate INEC’s  efforts to  conduct credible elections in the country.

Okoye  said  while the paramount interest of the commission was the conduct of free, fair and credible  elections, the conduct of such elections was a multi-stakeholder venture.

“Securing the electoral environment for credible elections is a function of the Nigeria Police Force as the lead agency in election security. In this venture, they are assisted by other security agencies,” he told the newspaper.

Over 70 political parties contended the presidential election in Feb 23, many of them getting less than 50,000 votes of the 35 million accredited voters that participated in the election.

Many have argued that the multi-party system is too expensive considering how it must accommodate weak parties, including those that can even afford offices.