Alliance leader Naomi Long has defended her party after a paperwork issue meant an election candidate was forced to withdraw at the last minute.
The party faced criticism after Mimi Unamoyo, who had hoped to become the first refugee elected as a councillor in Northern Ireland, was unable to stand for election.
Her posters had already been placed on lampposts in the Balmoral area of South Belfast and for weeks party activists had been distributing her leaflets when the issue emerged.
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Ms Unamoyo fled for her life from the Democratic Republic of Congo and sought protection in the UK in 2009.
Alliance had said there was an "issue with paperwork relating to her eligibility to stand".
It declined to explain further, but described the problem as "another example of the barriers facing members of migrant communities".
Ms Unamoyo declined to comment when contacted.
People Before Profit's Sipho Sibanda said that as a BAME (black, asian, minority ethnic) woman she felt "gutted" over Alliance's handling of the matter.
The Botanic area candidate tweeted: "Political parties should at least do their due diligence before splashing someone's face all over town and allow for people to speculate over issues that remain their secret.
"As a BAME woman I feel gutted in the way Alliance handled the process, but seems there's a trend there."
Asked to respond to Ms Sibanda's comments, Mrs Long said she felt "very disappointed" that Ms Unamoyo could not stand for election on May 18.
The Alliance leader said it would be "wholly inappropriate" to discuss Ms Unamoyo's "personal information" any further.
But she said her party would continue to prioritise fielding candidates from diverse backgrounds.
Speaking at Alliance's manifesto launch, she said: "Alliance has a good track record in delivering candidates, not just as paper candidates, but people who have actually been elected, people who are actually elected representatives now, from a whole range of diverse backgrounds and we continue to prioritise that as we go forward."
Alliance is standing 110 candidates in the council election - 26 more than in the last local government poll in 2019.
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