What Caused the High Number of Nomination Rejections?

Reportedly, nearly 150 nomination papers have been rejected due to technical problems, such as the inability to duly perfect the prescribed nomination forms and the failure to obtain the signatures of the appropriate officers, at a time when Sri Lankan citizens are on the lookout for those novelty candidates who would not adhere to traditional politics, and thrive on his/her promises to practise what is preached.

According to the National Election Commission (NEC), in certain cases, the election papers were rejected because the candidate did not include his/her signature on the nomination papers. “It is important to know who should vote and who should not in this vital matter.”

The Local Government (LG) Election will be held on 9 March 2023, as determined by the National Election Commission, and the deadline for nominations was 21 January 2023.

The numerous nominations from Political Parties and other independent organisations that were handed out will be remembered for this upcoming election.

According to the District Election Officers, many of the nomination papers submitted have issues/shortcomings. As a result, a large number of nomination papers presented by Political Parties and Independent Groups were turned down.

One and a half hours were allotted to lodge objections and protests following the acceptance of the nomination papers submitted by Political Parties and Independent Groups for the 2023 LG elections.

The district-level nomination acceptances and rejections were, however, made public after that.

Chairman of the NEC, Nimal Punchihewa explained that the candidates’ technical mistakes were the key reasons why so many nomination papers were rejected. He said the Party Secretary or the authorised agent should provide the nomination paperwork. But he claimed new problems surfaced since other persons and/or third parties showed up and handed over the nomination papers,

Speaking further, he said some nomination papers omitted the name of the organisation, the signature of the justice of the peace, the signature of the party secretary, and the candidate’s signature. He claimed that these were the primary arguments they used to disqualify the nomination papers.

The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence Chief of Operation D.M. Dissanayake said some crucial factors and preconditions have to be complied with when perfecting a nomination form and some of the candidates had failed to satisfy the said requirements.