Sex Discrimination (Election Candidates) Act 2002

1 Exclusion of candidate selection from 1975 Act

At the beginning of Part 5 of the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (c. 65) insert—

“42A Selection of candidates

(1) Nothing in Parts 2 to 4 shall—

(a) be construed as affecting arrangements to which this section applies, or

(b) render unlawful anything done in accordance with such arrangements.

(2) This section applies to arrangements made by a registered political party which—

(a) regulate the selection of the party’s candidates in a relevant election, and

(b) are adopted for the purpose of reducing inequality in the numbers of men and women elected, as candidates of the party, to be members of the body concerned.

(3) The following elections are relevant elections for the purposes of this section—

(a) parliamentary elections;

(b) elections to the European Parliament;

(c) elections to the Scottish Parliament;

(d) elections to the National Assembly for Wales;

(e) local government elections within the meaning of section 191, 203 or 204 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (c. 2) (excluding any election of the Mayor of London).

(4) In this section “registered political party” means a party registered in the Great Britain register under Part 2 of the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (c. 41).”.