Part 3: Elections
Section 23: Election falling within canvass period
111.Section 23 introduces new arrangements designed to expedite the registration of eligible electors in the event of an election falling within a canvass period. Subsection (1) inserts new section 13BB into the 1983 Act, which enables electoral registration officers to amend the published register of electors before the election is held to show details of new electors or other changes that have been recorded on a canvass form.
112.Subsection (1) of new section 13BB provides that the power to amend the register is triggered when an application for registration is made on a canvass form and notice of an election is published, the poll for which will be held in the period between 1 July and 1 December in the year of that canvass.
113.Subsection (2) of new section 13BB provides that when the power to amend the register is triggered, the elector shall be treated as if they made their application for registration on the date the form is received by the returning officer or the date the notice of election is published, whichever is later. This subsection also allows the Secretary of State to prescribe circumstances in which the application should not be treated as made on either date (for instance where the elector has not yet taken up residence at the relevant address).
114.Subsection (3) of new section 13BB provides that the registration officer may not determine an application as if it were made before the election if the canvass form was received by the returning officer after the last point at which it can be determined before the poll (currently the 11th day before the poll). Subsection (4) requires that amendments to the register must be made by way of a notice specifying the appropriate alterations. Subsection (5) provides that where, as a result of the determination that a person is entitled to be registered, that person’s entry falls to be removed from the register for another area, and an election is going to be held in that other area during the canvass period, then the registration officer for the other area must (if they are informed about the determination in time) also amend their register to delete that person’s entry.
115.Subsection (6) of new section 13BB provides that a notice altering the register must be issued on the appropriate publication date (currently the 5th or 6th day before the poll) and that the alteration comes into effect from the beginning of the day on which it is published. Subsection (7) provides that the requirement to publish a notice altering the register will not apply if the registration officer publishes a revised register taking the changes into account before the 5th or 6th day before the poll date.
116.Subsection (2) of Section 23 inserts new subsection (1A) into section 13 of the 1983 Act. The effect of this new provision is that, in the event of an election taking place during the period from 1st July to 1st December, the electoral registration officer may suspend publication of the electoral register from 1st December until 1st February in the following year to allow time to compile the revised register.
Section 24: Candidate at parliamentary election may withhold home address from publication
117.This section makes amendments to the parliamentary elections rules (PERs), found at Schedule 1 to the 1983 Act, to allow candidates at a parliamentary election to choose that their home address does not appear on the ballot paper at the election. Under rule 6 of the PERs (concerning the nomination of candidates), candidates at a parliamentary election are nominated by completing the nomination paper. The PERs currently require the candidate’s home address to be included on the nomination paper. Under rule 14 (publication of statement of persons nominated), the returning officer will publish a statement showing the persons who have been nominated to stand at the election. The statement will include the names and addresses of the candidates as shown on their nomination papers. The names and addresses of the candidates on the statement of persons nominated are in turn transferred onto the ballot paper for the election.
118.Subsection (2) of section 24 amends rule 6 of the PERs to provide that the candidate’s nomination paper will no longer include the candidate’s home address in full. Instead, the nomination paper must be accompanied by a form known as the “home address form” which must show the candidate’s full names and home address in full. Provisions concerning the delivery of nomination papers to the returning officer will apply equally to the delivery of the home address form. On the home address form, the candidate may make a statement that he or she requires the home address not to be made public. If so, then the form must also state the constituency within which the candidate’s home address is situated, or if that address is outside the United Kingdom, the country within which it is situated.
119.Subsection (3) amends rule 11 of the PERs (right to attend nomination) to provide that those specified persons who are entitled to attend the proceedings during the time for delivery of nomination papers or for making objections to them (that is, other candidates, agents and election observers from the Electoral Commission) also have the right to inspect and object to the contents of the home address form. Otherwise, new rule 11(5) prohibits the returning officer from disclosing the home address form, except for some other purpose authorised by law.
120.Subsection (4) amends rule 12 of the PERs (validity of nomination papers) to provide that the provisions in this rule concerning the nomination paper and the candidate’s consent to it, also apply to the home address form. As a result, if a candidate fails to return a home address form or to complete it in accordance with rule 6, then the returning officer may hold the candidate’s nomination to be invalid.
121.Subsection (5) inserts new provision into rule 14 of the PERs (publication of statement of persons nominated). The effect is that where a candidate has stated on the home address form that he or she does not wish his or her home address to be made public, the information provided about the constituency (or country) within which the candidate’s home address is situated will appear on the statement of persons nominated, instead of his or her home address.
122.Subsection (6) also inserts new provisions into rule 14 of the PERs to address the situation where two or more candidates have the same or similar names, each of them wishes to withhold their home address and their home addresses are in the same constituency (or country). Where, in the returning officer’s opinion, these circumstances are likely to cause confusion (for example where both are also independent candidates), the returning officer may cause any of their particulars to be shown on the statement of persons nominated with such amendments or additions as the officer thinks appropriate, in order to reduce the likelihood of confusion.
123.Subsection (7) inserts a new rule 53A in the PERs (destruction of home addresses), which provides that the returning officer shall destroy each candidate’s home address form on the next working day following the 21st day after the election (being the deadline for submission of an election petition based on the contents of a home address form) or the conclusion either of proceedings arising from any petition submitted during that period or any appeal resulting from such proceedings.
Section 25: Disposal of election documents in Scotland
124.Section 25 amends section 63 of, and Schedule 1 to, the 1983 Act. The amendment to section 63 omits the words “Sheriff Clerk”. The amendment to Schedule 1 substitutes a revised rule 58 in the PERs, which confers responsibility for the storage of, and provision of access to, the election records and documents for a United Kingdom Parliamentary election in Scotland on the Parliamentary Returning Officer for the election.
Section 26: Filling vacant European Parliament seats in Northern Ireland
125.Section 26 amends section 5 of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 (“the 2002 Act”) to extend the power to make regulations in respect of filling vacant European Parliament seats in Northern Ireland. Currently, section 5 of the 2002 Act only enables regulations to provide either that a by-election is held to fill a vacant seat or that it is filled from a party’s list. As the party list system does not operate in Northern Ireland this means a by-election must be held if a Northern Ireland seat in the European Parliament becomes vacant.
126.Section 26(1) inserts new section 5(4) and (5) which will apply specifically to filling vacant seats in Northern Ireland. Subsection (4) enables regulations to make provision for seats to be filled in three ways depending on whether or not the previous member of the European Parliament (MEP) stood in the name of a registered party when elected, two or more registered parties when elected or was an independent candidate. Where the previous MEP stood in the name of a registered party when returned, regulations may require the vacancy to be filled by a person nominated by the nominating officer of that party. Where the previous MEP stood in the name of two or more registered parties, regulations may require the vacancy to be filled by a person nominated jointly by the nominating officers of both (or all) of those parties. If the MEP was not a member of a registered party when returned, the regulations may provide for a person named in a list of substitutes submitted by him or her to fill the vacancy.
127.By virtue of section 26(2) the regulations made under the 2002 Act to reflect this new provision will also apply to any vacancies in the seats of Northern Ireland MEPs that have already arisen providing that the notice of by-election has not been published by the time the regulations come into force.
Section 27: Returning Officers for elections to the European Parliament
128.Section 27 amends section 6 of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002 to provide for the proper officer of the Greater London Authority to be eligible to be designated by the Secretary of State as a returning officer for European Parliamentary elections in a region in England and Wales and makes related provision.
129.Subsection (2) provides that the Greater London Returning Officer, who is the proper officer of the Greater London Authority and is responsible for running elections for the London Mayor and London Assembly, will be eligible to be designated as returning officer for European Parliamentary elections, in addition to acting returning officers for United Kingdom Parliamentary elections in England and Wales.
130.Subsection (3) substitutes a new definition of “local returning officer” for that previously contained in section 6(5A)(a) of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 2002. The effect of the new definition is that the local returning officers for European Parliamentary elections will be the persons who are returning officers for the local authority elections specified in the new subsection, rather than the persons who are returning officers for United Kingdom Parliamentary general elections.
131.Subsection (4) inserts in section 6 a new subsection (9) to provide that where the proper officer of the Greater London Authority is designated as returning officer for the London electoral region, the Greater London Authority must place the services of its employees at that person’s disposal for the purpose of assisting the proper officer in performing his or her functions as returning officer.
