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‘Puppy’ by Hochū Nakamura A relaxed and adorable depiction of a puppy. A work by the painter Hochū Nakamura, active from the mid- to late Edo period.

Ellison Hoover

"More than 100 Liberal Party candidates will be unable to run for council in Australia's most populous state, after a "monumental stuff up" saw the party miss an election nomination deadline.

New South Wales (NSW) officials say they legally cannot accept late entries, with one of Australia's top election analysts estimating the party is likely to lose about 50 council seats as a result.

Several long-serving politicians will automatically be out of a job, and constituents of eight councils will not have a single Liberal Party candidate to vote for.

State party director Richard Shields has apologised and blamed "limited resources" for the failure to complete paperwork in time.

In a letter to MPs, the party's state parliamentary leader Mark Speakman described the episode as "probably the worst act of mismanagement" in the party's history, saying Mr Shields should have asked for more resources...

Election analyst Ben Raue says the exact number contests affected is still to be confirmed, but he calculates the Liberal Party is 136 candidates short of a full ticket.

In a post on his Tally Room blog, Mr Raue said those who have missed the ballot include 38 sitting councillors...

The saga has sent the NSW Liberal Party into crisis, with senior Liberal MPs lining up to express their outrage.

Deputy parliamentary leader Natalie Ward told radio station 2GB she is furious over the "monumental stuff-up", while Anthony Roberts told the ABC it was "abysmal".

"It's absolutely catastrophic, I've never seen - in my 30 years of public life - anything so bad," he said."

I drew an animation based on a piece by @malatalia_