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Elpitiya case a barrier for registration of new political parties: EC
View(s):The Election Commission will not register any new political parties until the conclusion of the Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha elections, for which no date has been set due to a fundamental rights case, officials said. Democratic United National Front (DUNF) Secretary Ariyawansa Dissanayake filed a fundamental rights petition in the Supreme Court in January 2017, challenging the rejection of his party’s nomination paper for the February local council polls. The Court has issued an interim order preventing the Election Commission from holding elections to the Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha until its final determination.
According to Article 7(4)(a) of the Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Act No. 58 of 2009, the Election Commission (EC) shall before January 31 of each year publish a notice calling upon the secretary of any new political party to make a written application to the Commission seeking recognition for the purpose of elections.
But the law also prevents the Commission from calling for applications from new political parties commencing on the “date of a Notice under section 26 of the Local Authorities Elections Ordinance relating to an election under the Ordinance and ending on the date of poll specified in a Notice under Section 28 of that Ordinance…”
“We have already issued notice under the relevant section of the law in December 2017 for elections to 341 local authorities,” said Deputy Elections Commissioner M. M. Mohamed. “But the Elpitiya election was stopped by court because of a party having filed a case. That case is still going on, so we can’t hold that election and we also can’t call applications for registering new parties due to this, till the election is over.”
This will affect anybody that wishes to register a new party for any poll, including Parliamentary or Provincial Council. However, existing recognised political parties are allowed to change their names and symbols. New alliances and political fronts can also be formed and recognised.