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Record number of rejected nominations on the drive to local elections
View(s):- Election monitors welcome significant drop in campaign misdemeanours
By Sandun Jayawardana
Election monitors have flagged the record number of rejected nominations for the 2025 local government election as a matter that should be examined in detail after the poll to ensure there would not be a repeat.
Some 49 recognised political parties and 75 independent groups submitted nominations for the election by the close of nominations at 12 noon on March 20. Out of a total of 2914 nomination papers that were submitted, 427 were rejected. This was a percentage of 14 per cent, notes the first interim report for the 2025 local government election released by the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL).
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Only 114 local government authorities out of 339 had no rejected nominations. This means that 66 per cent of local government institutions had at least one rejected nomination, PAFFREL’s Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi told the Sunday Times.
Failure to submit nominations within the stipulated time, not fulfilling the stipulated youth and/or women’s quota, failure to produce a certified copy of the birth certificate as specified by the Election Commission (EC), failure to submit affidavits and failure to certify the signatures of party secretaries have been cited among reasons that have led to nominations being rejected.
Communication problems between political parties and the EC, failure to read the Local Government Acts and comprehend them correctly, negligence, failure of parties to finalise candidate lists promptly, last-minute submission of nominations, inability of political parties to verify the data and complexities and ambiguities in legal frameworks have contributed to this situation, PAFFREL’s report notes.
The rejection of nominations led to 208 cases being filed, which eventually led to 132 rejected nomination papers being accepted.
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The court cases however, consumed much of the pre-election campaign period, said Executive Director of the Institute for Democratic Reforms and Electoral Studies (IRES) Manjula Gajanayake. “Political parties, independent groups and the EC spent about two to three weeks in court due to this situation. It also created a lot of uncertainty regarding whether elections in local authorities will actually be held on May 6.”
Stressing this was an injustice to candidates and a difficult situation for the EC, Mr. Gajanayake said the issue should be explored in depth after the election. Presently, a case can be filed within 30 days in case of a violation of a person’s fundamental rights and some legal challenges against the rejection of nomination papers were even filed on the last day (April 20) itself, noted the IRES official. He suggested the Local Authorities Election Ordinance needed amending to address the issue. “While there’s no argument about the 30-day period to file cases in relation to violation of fundamental rights, when it comes to election matters, we need to think about reducing the timeframe (given to file legal challenges) from 30 days to about 14 days from the submission of nominations.”
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When it comes to the campaign, election monitors have welcomed what they say is a noticeable change in the current local government election, where misuse of public property for campaigning has been significantly low. The trend continues a change seen during November’s parliamentary election, PAFFREL’s Mr. Hettiarachchi said. “There have been some isolated cases but from our experience in the past, such misuse of public property for campaigning was done in an organised manner that affected the entire country. That is not the case now and we need to appreciate that.”
While the illegal pasting of campaign posters and other propaganda material is still a concern, he noted that with 71, 000 candidates contesting the upcoming election, with four to five candidates contesting from each village, it is difficult to control the matter completely. “We have seen the use of illegal propaganda material too reducing over time. That is something we have seen over the past several elections under different governments,” he added.
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