Electoral Act, 1963
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Conduct of elections. |
82.—(1) Local elections shall be held in accordance with regulations made by the Minister and, if an election is contested, the poll shall be taken according to the principle of proportional representation, each elector having one transferable vote at the election. | |
(2) Regulations under this section, in particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing subsection, may make provision for all or any of the following matters in relation to local elections: | ||
(i) nominations, | ||
(ii) deposits by candidates, | ||
(iii) deaths of candidates, | ||
(iv) duties of returning officers, | ||
(v) staff of returning officers, | ||
(vi) taking of polls and counting of votes, | ||
(vii) use, free of charge, of schools and public rooms, | ||
(viii) arrangements for postal voting, | ||
(ix) voting by persons in the employment of returning officers, | ||
(x) advance polling on islands, | ||
(xi) maintenance of secrecy of voting, | ||
(xii) removal of persons misconducting themselves in polling stations, | ||
(xiii) procedure in cases of disorder or obstruction, | ||
(xiv) interference with ballot boxes or ballot papers, | ||
(xv) time of becoming a member of a local authority and of retiring from being such a member, and period of office of lord mayors, mayors, chairmen and vice-chairmen, | ||
(xvi) the persons who are to be aldermen and their number, | ||
(xvii) filling of casual vacancies, | ||
(xviii) election of the same person in more than one local electoral area, | ||
(xix) days and times of, and business to be transacted at, first meetings of local authorities after elections of their members and meetings to be held at or near the anniversaries of the days of such first meetings, and failure to hold such meetings as required, | ||
(xx) adaptation of enactments, | ||
and may also make provisions corresponding to the provisions specified in the next subsection subject however to any modifications in those provisions appearing to the Minister to be appropriate. | ||
(3) The provisions referred to in the foregoing subsection are the provisions of Parts I , II , III and VIII (except section 50) of the Prevention of Electoral Abuses Act, 1923 . | ||
(4) Where a provision of regulations under this section corresponds to a provision of the Electoral Acts, 1923 to 1963, or the Prevention of Electoral Abuses Act, 1923 , which provides for a penalty, it may itself provide for a penalty not exceeding that provided for in the provision to which it corresponds. | ||
(5) Where regulations under this section are proposed to be made, a draft thereof shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas and the regulations shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by each House. | ||
(6) No local election shall be declared invalid by reason of a non-compliance with any regulation under this section, or any mistake in the use of forms provided for by any such regulation, if it appears to the tribunal having cognizance of the question that the election was conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the regulations under this section taken as a whole, and that the non-compliance or mistake did not affect the result of the election. | ||
(7) Regulations under this section shall apply to a new election under Part IV of the Local Government Act, 1941 . |