“The Pirate Party Australia (ACT Branch) has missed out on registration as a political party in the ACT as it did not submit a list of 100 members who were on the ACT electoral roll,” the ACT Electoral Commissioner, Phil Green said today.

“The Pirate Party ACT submitted its application on Saturday 30 June 2012, just before the party registration deadline of midnight 30 June,” Mr Green said.

“However, the application has been refused registration, as my delegate is not satisfied that the party had 100 members who were electors at the time the party’s application was submitted.

“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

“Parties wishing to register for ACT Legislative Assembly elections must submit a list of at least 100 members who are electors and a copy of the party’s constitution to the Electoral Commissioner.

“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. This serves as an important reminder to ACT residents to check that they are correctly listed on the electoral roll. All Australian citizens aged 18 or over need to apply for ACT electoral enrolment, it does not happen automatically,” Mr Green said.

“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 party’s candidates would require 20 nominators who are ACT electors and would be listed on the ballot paper in the “ungrouped” column on the ballot paper,” Mr Green.

It is now too late for any political parties not yet registered for the October ACT 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.

Further information on party registration can be viewed on the Commission’s website at www.elections.act.gov.au