We don’t need 91 political parties
Whereas 68 political parties were registered by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to participate in the 2015 general election, 91 have been certified to contest next year. This is a cause for worry in a country where the level of illiteracy is so high and there is an urgent need to keep the democratic process as simple as possible. Experience has shown that a major cause of complications in the electoral process is logistics. Transportation of materials, both sensitive and non-sensitive, as well as personnel have always posed enormous challenges to the electoral commission.
We acknowledge that the Supreme Court had ruled at the inception of this republic in a case filed by the Late Chief Gani Fawehinmi (SAN), and the National Conscience Party (NCP) that the electoral commission had no right whatsoever to introduce rules and regulations beyond the stipulations of the 1999 Constitution. The apex court said failure of the commission to register the NCP based on what it considered extraneous guidelines was ultra vires. That verdict has since confined the electoral commission to a registry than a registration body. It opened the way to applications by many political associations to be recognised as political parties that could contest for any office in the land.
While supporters of the move have lauded the constitution and apex court for liberalising the process, contending that it would improve political participation, the experience since then, compared to the situation in the Second Republic, is that it has introduced confusion. It is no secret that the current political system is bereft of ideology, thus making it difficult for the electorate to differentiate between the parties. This should dictate the need to keep the numbers manageable. We note that one of the roles of political parties is to aggregate values and enable the electorate to realise where the country would be going with one party or the other emerging the winner in a particular election. How would this be realised with perhaps 91 candidates?
It is also to be noted that paucity of funds at this point ought to dictate that parties be kept few so that they could be easily accommodated on the ballot papers. The more the number of political parties, the longer would be the ballot papers, and this would increase the size, weight and cost of printing the paper, and, perhaps, even the size or number of ballot boxes. At a point that the economy remains so fragile, savings in all respects should be encouraged. Election budget estimates before the National Assembly indicate that it could require a little less than N200 billion to conduct the 2019 polls.
While sections 221-224 of the Constitution and section 78 of the Electoral Act stipulate conditions for registration of parties, these have become too loose and inappropriate for the time. It is high time we returned to the provisions of the 1979 Constitution that gave the then Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) a major role in party registration. The parties should be manageable, with a view to ensuring that the process is filtered and those who have no business in canvassing votes are kept at bay.
We are conscious that advanced democracies do not preclude anyone from participating in the process, but this has largely been kept within the basis of establishing local parties based on certain principles. In the United Kingdom, for example, there is the Green Party that knows it could not produce the Prime Minister, but, because the voters know what it stands for, it manages to win a few seats in parliament and thus remains relevant. In Nigeria, there are political parties that fail to register their presence even in local council elections. Such should not be allowed to waste scarce resources and complicate choice.
We call on the National Assembly to amend the Constitution, strengthening the registration process. The Indian model could be useful. This calls for a two-tier registration system. In India, there is a distinction between registered parties and recognised parties. Almost every party that indicates interest is registered, but only a few are recognised. A party is recognised as a state party when it has won one of 25 seats in the legislative house of the state or six per cent of the total votes cast in such election in the state. However, to be recognised as a national party, it must have won the same number of votes or seats in at least four states. Therefore, as many parties as indicate interest in registration in Nigeria could be allowed to test their strength in the state House of Assembly election. But, for them to be allowed to contest in state governorship, National Assembly and presidential elections, they must have, in a previous state assembly election, won a certain number of the votes cast, or seats in a specified number of states. This will whittle down the number without bias.
If the current situation continues, the quest for registration of parties would increase with many enticed by a mere desire to be known as a “political chieftain” or “former presidential candidate”. It is time to sanitise the process.