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30 political parties to be suspended

23 Jan 2012 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Elections Department has decided to suspend the registration of 30 political parties, which had failed to submit relevant documents such as their statements of accounts and policy statements for several years, an official said today.

He said there were 67 registered political parties in Sri Lanka, but for years 30 of them had not engaged in active politics and as such their registration would be suspended immediately.

According to the law enacted in 2009, political parties are required to submit their annual statements of accounts to the Elections Department.

“It is an annual requirement. They also have to submit copies of their party constitutions, political programmes and names of official. We have identified ten parties that have not submitted any of these documents. Ample time is given for the submission of annual statements of accounts. For example, the statement of accounts for 2011 can be submitted before January 30, 2013. Yet, these parties have failed to adhere to this requirement stipulated in the new parliamentary act,” he said.

When asked for the names of the parties facing suspension, the official said he would not divulge the names because doing so would be unfair by these parties.

However, he said that the People’s Front of Liberation Tigers, a political party registered by the LTTE at was among them.

Meanwhile, the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) said this was a positive decision by the Department.

PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi said that some small parties acted as proxies of the major parties in the run-up to the elections.
“The major parties usually nominate their members under the banner of small parties as counting agents and polling booth representatives. They also use small parties to get more and more air time allocated to them in the electronic media during election times,” he said.

“At the 2010 presidential election, there were 13 candidates. But, most of them withdrew their candidacy nearing elections after pledging their support to the main candidates.” (Kelum Bandara)

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30 political parties to be suspended

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