Six new political parties apply for registration

Colombo (News 1st): The National Elections Commission said 06 new political parties have applied for registration ahead of the upcoming elections. A source from the NEC speaking to News 1st said, however, under the present situation it is not possible to accommodate any such registration. The reason is that the election for the Bentara-Elpitiya Pradeshiya Sabha has already been announced. The NEC stressed new political parties will not be registered at a time when an election is announced. In 2017, 95 political parties applied for registration at the NEC, of which only 06 were allowed to register. Interestingly, there were no applications for registration for the years 2018, 2016 & 2015. According to the National Elections Commission, there are around 70 accepted political parties in Sri Lanka.