No fewer than 124 political groups that applied for registration as political parties have been technically excluded from participating in the 2023 general elections by the Independent National Electoral Commission, Sunday PUNCH can confirm. This, by implication, means that only the 18 parties that survived the commission’s last deregistration in 2020 will participate in the forthcoming elections. It was reported on December 26, 2021, that 101 political associations had applied to the commission for registration. The Deputy Director, SERVICOM at INEC, Olayide Okuonghae, in his response to a Freedom of Information request sent by Sunday PUNCH, said the 101 associations applied between 2019 and