THE Pirate Party Australia (ACT Branch) has been denied registration as a political party in the ACT as it did not submit a required list of 100 members who were on the ACT electoral roll, electoral commissioner, Phil Green said today.

“As the application to register the party was received very close to the deadline, there was no time for the party to resubmit the application with the names of more members before the deadline passed. This is an unfortunate consequence of leaving the submission of its application to the last minute,” Mr Green said

“While the Pirate Party ACT submitted a list of more than 100 members with its application, several of the party’s members were not on the ACT electoral roll.

“Although the Pirate Party ACT will not be officially registered for the 2012 ACT election, the party may still put forward candidates for election and campaign on behalf of those candidates, identifying them as candidates of the party. However, non-registration means that the party cannot use the name of the party, or have candidates grouped together, on the ballot paper.”

The commissioner also reported today that the Marion Lê Social Justice Party has submitted an application to register as a political party. Objections to the registration must be lodged, in writing, to the electoral commissioner by July 31.

It is now too late for any political parties not yet registered for the October 20 election to submit an application for official registration to the ACT Electoral Commissioner. To be registered for the 2012 election, applications had to be submitted before 1 July 2012.