EDMONTON - Penalties are steep for 12 failed MLA candidates who neglected to file their campaign financials by Thursday's deadline.

The late filers will not be allowed to run for provincial office for eight years, said Drew Westwater, director of operations for Elections Alberta.

While the results will be posted as early as next week, Westwater said he couldn't reveal which candidates had neglected to file on time. He did say there were no sitting candidates.

At press time, both the Tory majority and official opposition Wildrose Party reported all their 87 candidates had filed their financials by the deadline.

There was a bumper crop of 431 candidates in the April 2012 election. With four official parties boasting full slates for all 87 MLA seats, there was a record number of newbie wannabe MLAs.

The filings include information about who the contributors were, how much the candidates spent, if they have a surplus or debt from their campaign.

The late filers will be reported to the speaker's office and then sent to the legislature. The results will be posted online at electionsalberta.ca.

Barring contesting the penalty in court, later filers will automatically be banned from running for office for the next eight years, he said.

The parties are required to file their overall numbers by Oct. 23.