INEC Chairman, Professor Yakubu
Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Wole Oke, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to take urgent steps toward sanitizing the electoral process by removing inactive political parties from ballot papers.
In a position paper released on Monday, titled “Strengthening INEC’s Regulatory Role Over Political Parties to Safeguard Democratic Integrity,” the lawmaker argued that the growing clutter on ballot papers contributes significantly to voter confusion and an increasing number of voided votes.
“Our ballot paper has become one of the longest and most confusing in the world. Voters, both literate and non-literate, have complained about being overwhelmed by the number of logos. Some end up voting wrongly or spoiling their ballots altogether,” Oke said.
Representing the Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency of Osun State, Oke urged INEC to streamline the ballots by eliminating logos of political parties that have remained inactive, obscure, or non-performing.
He believes this will enhance clarity for voters, especially those with lower literacy levels.
“The proliferation of these unserious parties not only wastes INEC’s time and resources but also robs voters of their ability to make informed and accurate choices,” he added.
He accused many registered parties of existing merely on paper, pointing out that several do not field candidates or engage meaningfully in the democratic process.
According to him, their primary activity during election seasons is filing petitions in court, often with the goal of extorting successful candidates.
Oke further called on INEC to conduct an immediate compliance audit of all registered political parties and enforce Section 225A of the Constitution, which allows the Commission to deregister parties that do not meet essential participation benchmarks.
“Section 225A of the Constitution empowers INEC to deregister parties that fail to meet basic requirements such as winning elections or even participating in them. INEC must act now to clean up the system,” he said.
He also advocated for reforms to the Electoral Act to restrict post-election legal challenges to only parties that actually took part in the polls.
This, he argued, would help decongest the judiciary and discourage voter apathy.
“Ballot clarity is a cornerstone of credible elections. We must not allow our democracy to be distorted by political logos with no real meaning or mandate behind them,” Oke warned.
His comments come amid growing public concern over the complexity of Nigeria’s ballot design and the impact it has on election outcomes.
