The New South Wales Liberal party has demanded a week-long extension to lodge nominations for more than 130 council candidates after the party missed the deadline in a “monumental stuff-up”.
But acting NSW electoral commissioner Matthew Phillips considered the grounds for the request and on Saturday rejected an extension.
The NSW Liberal party president, Don Harwin, sent a letter to the NSW electoral commission overnight Friday after the party’s head office missed the Wednesday noon deadline to lodge the necessary paperwork to nominate all of its candidates for the local government elections on 14 September.
Guardian Australia understands Harwin gave the electoral commission until 4pm on Saturday to respond, and that the letter detailed “issues” with the electoral process.
