Abe Wants Five Parties

Former Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Hon Magnus Ngei Abe, has called for the reduction of the number of  political parties in the country.

Hon. Abe, who is Senator-elect made the call last  Saturday, shortly after he voted during the local government elections in Bera, in Gokana Local Government Area. He said elections in the country might not be meaningful until the number of  political parties was reduced to appreciable number of five.

He said the number of political parties was many and the logos appeared to be too small and many in the ballot papers which often  posed challenges to other people and illiterates to recognise.

The Senator-elect who will represent Rivers South East in the National Assembly noted that the present system where about 60 political parties were contesting elections was not working effectively and efficiently, explaining that it makes organisation and administration rather difficult.

According to him, “the situation where there are four or five political parties contesting would save funds and would be better handled administratively”.

“Too many political parties make organisation difficult. It makes administration also difficult. Mistakenly one of them may be omitted, but if we have four or five which are the actual political parties on ground, the elections would be properly handled”, he said.

“It took me some time to locate my party logo and symbol, how long would it take older people and those who are not so educated to find the party symbol before casting their votes”, he asked.

Abe however called on the Independent National Electorial Commission (INEC) to note the observation and improve on it before the next elections while expressing satisfaction with the conduct of the local government elections in the state.