This misunderstanding may be on you, it may be on your County FA Referee Development Officer, or a combo of both, but when our CFA invited promotion candidates it was made clear in advance what the full criteria was not only in terms of games but also CPD, LOTG test and Match Day Coaching visits, plus what we had to do in terms of keeping them updated with our matches both in advance (in order to facilitate match day coaches) and after completion.
This isn't my CFA but is similar to what we received in the invitation to promotion pathway email -
https://www.hampshirefa.com/referees/development-and-courses/referee-progression-pathway