The All People’s Congress (APC) has been described by its founder and leader, Hassan Ayariga, as a “big” party in spite of having been in existence for less than six months given that it has met all the requirements for certification of a political party.

Mr. Ayariga broke away from the People’s National Congress (PNC) to form the APC after he was unseated by Dr. Edward Mahama at the PNC’s December 12, 2015, congress in Wa. He accused the EC, which supervised the PNC’s primaries, and the police of working against his re-election bid at the national delegates' congress held in the Upper West regional capital.

Mr. Ayariga said the APC had satisfied all legal requirements expected of political parties, including having offices in at least two-thirds of all the districts in the country.

He told Prince Minkah, host of the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS), on Class91.3FM Tuesday, May 31 that before the APC was certified by the EC, all its offices across the country were in place.

“APC is [a] big party because I have satisfied all the requirements. I am campaigning, they [the bigger parties] are also campaigning”.

Meanwhile, the EC has indicated that political parties that will fail to meet the requirement of having offices in two-thirds of the districts, as well as submitting audited accounts to the electoral body will have their licences revoked by May 31, 2016.

The EC in January 2016 issued a communiqué warning political parties to furnish it with their audited accounts and also have the mandatory representation in two-thirds of all districts.

Mr. Ayariga said the APC had not taken part in any election, hence, could not submit any audited accounts to the EC, though it had satisfied the requirement on the minimum number of offices nationwide.