People’s Alliance tightens security after candidate list leak

The People’s Alliance Party has tightened its internal security procedures following the leak of prospective candidate names earlier this year but has decided against pursuing disciplinary action against those responsible.

General Secretary Sila Balawa said an internal investigation confirmed the information had been leaked from within the party’s office.

However, instead of conducting what he described as a “witch hunt”, the party chose to strengthen its systems to prevent a repeat of the incident.

“Our investigations showed the leak came from our office,” Mr Balawa said.

“But rather than being vindictive or conducting a witch hunt, we decided to fix the weaknesses in our systems.”

He said the party had introduced stricter controls over who could access candidate applications and selection documents.

“We have created a more secure system that limits the number of people involved in processing applications.”

Mr Balawa said the changes had been effective.

“Since we tightened security around the process, we have had no further problems.”

Although the internal investigation pointed to certain individuals, Mr Balawa said the party had decided not to pursue the matter further.

“Our initial investigations pointed us in certain directions, but the important thing was to ensure it could not happen again.”

He said the experience had provided valuable lessons for improving the party’s internal processes ahead of the upcoming election.

Mr Balawa said strengthening procedures was a better outcome than focusing on assigning blame.

“It has taught us lessons on where we needed to improve our systems and processes, and that’s the approach we decided to take.”

The People’s Alliance is expected to announce its final list of candidates in the coming weeks as preparations for the next general election continue.