Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962

PART I N.I. CORRUPT PRACTICES

1 N.I. Bribery

(1) A person shall be guilty of bribery if he, directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf—

(a) gives any money or procures any office to or for any voter or to or for any other person on behalf of any voter or to or for any other person in order to induce any voter to vote or refrain from voting; or

(b) corruptly does any such act as aforesaid on account of any voter having voted or refrained from voting; or

(c) makes any such gift or procurement as aforesaid to or for any person in order to induce that person to procure, or endeavour to procure, the election of any candidate at any election or the vote of any voter; or

(d) upon or in consequence of any such gift or procurement as aforesaid, procures or engages, promises or endeavours to procure the election of any candidate at any election or the vote of any voter.

For the purposes of this sub-paragraph—

(i) references to giving money shall include references to giving, lending, agreeing to give or lend, offering, promising, or promising to procure or endeavour to procure any money or valuable consideration; and

(ii) references to procuring any office shall include references to giving, procuring, agreeing to give or procure, offering, promising, or promising to procure or to endeavour to procure any office, place or employment.

(2) A person shall be guilty of bribery if he advances or pays or causes to be paid any money to or to the use of any other person with the intent that that money or any part thereof is to be expended in bribery at any election or knowingly pays or causes to be paid any money to any person in discharge or repayment of any money wholly or in part expended in bribery at any election.

(3) The foregoing provisions of this paragraph shall not extend or be construed as extending to any money paid or agreed to be paid for or on account of any lawful expenses incurred in good faith at or in relation to an election.

(4) A voter shall be guilty of bribery if before or during an election he directly or indirectly by himself or by any other person on his behalf receives, agrees, or contracts for any money, gift, loan or valuable consideration, office, place or employment for himself or for any other person for voting or agreeing to vote or for refraining or agreeing to refrain from voting.

(5) A person shall be guilty of bribery if after an election he directly or indirectly by himself or by any other person on his behalf receives any money or valuable consideration on account of any person having voted or refrained from voting or having induced any other person to vote or refrain from voting.

(6) In this paragraph the expression voter includes any person who has or claims to have a right to vote either on his own behalf or by proxy.

2 N.I. Treating

(1) A person shall be guilty of treating if he corruptly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf, either before, during or after an election, directly or indirectly gives or provides, or pays wholly or in part the expense of giving or providing, any food, drink, entertainment or provision to or for any person—

(a) for the purpose of corruptly influencing that person or any other person to vote or refrain from voting; or

(b) on account of that person or any other person having voted or refrained from voting, or being about to vote or refrain from voting.

(2) Every elector or proxy who corruptly accepts or takes any such food, drink, entertainment or provision shall also be guilty of treating.

3 N.I. Undue influence

A person shall be guilty of undue influence—

(a)

if he, directly, or indirectly, by himself or by any other person on his behalf, makes use of or threatens to make use of any force, violence or restraint, or inflicts or threatens to inflict, by himself or by any other person, any temporal or spiritual injury, damage, harm or loss upon or against any person in order to induce or compel that person to vote or refrain from voting, or on account of that person having voted or refrained from voting; or

(b)

if, by abduction, duress or any fraudulent device or contrivance, he impedes or prevents the free exercise of the franchise of an elector or proxy, or thereby compels, induces or prevails upon an elector or proxy either to vote or to refrain from voting.

4 N.I. Personation

(1) A person shall be guilty of personation if at any election he—

(a) votes or applies for a ballot paper as some other person, whether that other person is a person whose name appears as an elector in the current register or is the proxy of such an elector and whether that other person is living or dead or is a fictitious person; or

(b) votes or applies for a ballot paper as proxy for another person, knowing or having reasonable grounds for supposing that the proxy paper appointing him has been cancelled or that that other person is dead or is a fictitious person.

(2) For the purposes of this paragraph, a person who has marked, whether validly or not, and returned a ballot paper issued for the purpose of voting by post, shall be deemed to have voted.

5 N.I. Misdemeanours as to proxy voting

[F1 Except at a local election] A person shall be guilty of a misdemeanour as to proxy voting if he—

(a)

votes at any parliamentaryF1 . . . election as proxy for more than two electors of whom he is neither the spouse, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child or grandchild; or

(b)

not being duly qualified to vote as proxy for another person, so votes;

(c)

votes or applies for a ballot paper as proxy for another person knowing or having reasonable grounds for supposing that that other person—

(i)

is no longer entitled to vote at that election; or

(ii)

is no longer entitled to vote by proxy at that election.

F1 SI 1987/168

False statements in nomination papers, etc. N.I.

[F2 5A A person is guilty of a corrupt practice if he causes or permits to be included in a document delivered or otherwise furnished to a returning officer for use in connection with a local election—

(a) a statement of the name or home address of a candidate at the election which he knows to be false in any particular; or

(b) anything which purports to be the signature of an elector who proposes, seconds or assents to, the nomination of such a candidate but which he knows—

(i) was not written by the elector by whom it purports to have been written, or

(ii) if written by that elector, was not written by him for the purpose of signifying that he was proposing, seconding, or (as the case may be) assenting to, that candidate's nomination.]

F2 SI 2001/417

6 N.I. Making a false declaration as to election expenses

A candidate or an election agent shall be guilty of making a false declaration as to election expenses if he knowingly makes the declaration required by section forty-seven falsely.

7 N.I. Incurring unauthorised expenses

A person shall be guilty of incurring unauthorised expenses if he incurs, or aids, abets, counsels or procures any other person to incur, any expenses in contravention of section forty-one or knowingly makes the declaration required by sub-section (5) or that section falsely.

8 N.I. Attempting or conspiring to commit a corrupt practice

A person shall be guilty of a corrupt practice if he attempts or conspires to commit any of the corrupt practices numbered 1 to 7 in this Part.

9 N.I. Aiding and abetting the commission of a corrupt practice

A person shall be guilty of a corrupt practice if he aids, abets, counsels or procures the commission of any of the corrupt practices numbered 1 to 8 in this Part or knowingly induces some other person to do an act which is, or but for that other person's want of knowledge would be, such a corrupt practice.