The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has announced that 14 new associations have been cleared to move to the next stage of registration as political parties following review of the letter of intent submitted by dozens of groups.

In a statement by INEC on Thursday, the commission said it received letters of intent seeking registration as political parties from a total of 171 associations but only 14 have met the requirements needed to scale through to the next phase of the process.

Subsequently, the commission said that 157 associations failed to satisfy the criteria needed to proceed to the next round, noting that all applicants would be officially notified of the outcome of their application in the next 24 hours.

“A total of 171 requests  for registration were received. Each request was assessed on the basis of its prima facie compliance with the provisions of Section 222 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), Section 79 (1, 2 and 4) of the Electoral Act 2022 and Clause 2 (i and ii) of the Commission’s Regulations and Guidelines for Political Parties 2022,” the commission stated.

The statement added, “Out of the total number of applications received, 14 associations have met the requirements to proceed to the next stage while 157 have not. The Commission shall officially communicate the decision arising from today’s meeting to all the associations in the next 24 hours.”

Meanwhile, the commission added that the chairmen and secretaries of the 14 pre-qualified associations are invited to attend a briefing at the INEC headquarters in Abuja on Wednesday 17th September 2025 while urging them to upload required information on its portal ahead of the meeting.

The 14 pre-qualified associations are  African Transformation Party, All Democratic Alliance, Advance Nigeria Congress, Abundance Social Party, African Alliance Party, Citizens Democratic Alliance, Democratic Leadership Alliance and Grassroots Initiative Party.

Green Future Party, Liberation People’s Party, National Democratic Party, National Reform Party, Patriotic Peoples Alliance and Peoples Freedom Party are also included in the list.