By T. Jayani, JadeTimes News
More than 100 Liberal Party candidates will be unable to participate in the upcoming council elections in New South Wales (NSW), Australia's most populous state, due to a "monumental blunder" that caused the party to miss the nomination deadline. NSW officials have stated that late entries cannot be legally accepted, and top election analyst Ben Raue estimates that the Liberal Party could lose around 50 council seats as a result.
This mishap means that several long serving politicians will automatically lose their positions, and in eight councils, voters will not have a single Liberal Party candidate to choose from. Richard Shields, the state party director, has apologized, attributing the failure to submit the necessary paperwork on time to "limited resources."
Mark Speakman, the party's state parliamentary leader, has called the incident "probably the worst act of mismanagement" in the party's history, suggesting that Shields should have requested additional resources. Speakman also mentioned that Shields' position is untenable, and he has been asked to resign.
Election analyst Ben Raue reported that the exact number of affected contests is still being determined, but the Liberal Party is short by 136 candidates for a full ticket, including 38 sitting councillors who missed the ballot. One of them, Paul Ell, who intended to run for mayor of Shoalhaven City Council in the state's south, is now set to lose his position. He expressed that the situation is personally upsetting and detrimental to local democracy.
In Wollongong, approximately 90 km south of Sydney, the error has ended John Dorahy's 13-year council career. Despite the setback, Dorahy remains hopeful that officials might show leniency. However, the NSW Electoral Commission issued a statement saying it is bound by law, which prevents it from accepting late nominations or allowing changes to forms submitted after the deadline.
This incident has plunged the NSW Liberal Party into crisis, with senior MPs expressing their outrage. Deputy parliamentary leader Natalie Ward voiced her anger on radio station 2GB, while Anthony Roberts described the situation as "abysmal" and "catastrophic," noting that he had never seen anything so bad in his 30 years of public service.
On Wednesday, Shields issued a statement apologizing on behalf of the secretariat to the Liberal endorsed councillors who were not nominated and to the broader party membership.
