The Parliamentary Elections (Returning Officer’s Charges) (Northern Ireland) Order 1997

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order, which applies in Northern Ireland, revokes and replaces the Parliamentary Elections (Returning Officer’s Charges) (Northern Ireland) Order 1994 (“the 1994 Order”).

Under section 29(3) of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (as substituted by the Representation of the People Act 1991), the entitlement of a returning officer at a parliamentary election to recover his charges in respect of his expenses for or in connection with such an election depends upon—

(a) the expenses being of a kind specified in an order under that provision,

(b) the expenses being properly incurred, and

(c) the charges in respect of them being reasonable.

Parts A and B of the Schedule specify the kinds of expenses incurred by a returning officer for or in connection with a parliamentary election in respect of which he is entitled to recover his charges, together (in the case of Part A) with the maximum recoverable amounts in respect of those charges. The Chief Electoral Officer for Northern Ireland is the returning officer for each constituency in Northern Ireland by virtue of section 26 of the Representation of the People Act 1983.

Part A of the Schedule to this Order increases the maximum recoverable amounts from those that were specified in the 1994 Order.