Electoral (Amendment) Act, 2002

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Amendment of Electoral Act, 1992.

1.—The Electoral Act, 1992 , is amended—

(a) in section 15(2) by inserting “to the procedure for making applications under subsection (1) and” after “shall apply”,

(b) in section 44, by substituting the following for paragraph (b):

“(b) the local authority offices where persons registered as Dáil electors in the constituency may assent to the nomination of a candidate referred to in section 46(4A);”,

(c) in section 46(2), by inserting the following after paragraph (a):

“(aa) a note of—

(i) the details to be entered on the nomination paper of a candidate referred to in subsection (4A) by a person assenting in accordance with this section to that candidate's nomination, and

(ii) the form of identification to be produced by the assentor;”,

(d) in section 46, by inserting the following after subsection (4):

“(4A) In the case of a candidate whose candidature is not authenticated by a certificate of political affiliation under subsection (4), the candidate's nomination shall, before delivery of his nomination paper to the returning officer in accordance with section 50, be assented to by 30 persons (excluding the candidate and any proposer) who are registered as Dáil electors in the constituency.

(4B) The following provisions apply in respect of the assents required by subsection (4A) to the nomination of a candidate referred to in that subsection:

(a) the candidate or the candidate's proposer, if any, shall complete part of a nomination paper as directed on that paper and lodge the paper in the prescribed local authority offices for the constituency;

(b) the local authority shall number any nomination papers lodged under paragraph (a) in the order in which they are lodged;

(c) where more than one nomination paper for the same candidate is lodged with the local authority, the first such nomination paper shall be deemed to be the nomination paper for that candidate for that election unless the candidature is withdrawn under section 54 or is deemed under section 62(1) to have been withdrawn;

(d) to assent to the nomination, a person registered as a Dáil elector in the constituency shall sign the candidate's nomination paper and produce a prescribed photographic identification to the local authority official;

(e) the local authority official shall note the following details on the nomination paper and then sign the note:

(i) the assentor's number on the register of electors;

(ii) the form of identification produced by the assentor, including any number on it;

(iii) the time and date of the assentor's signature on the paper;

(f) where the nomination paper bears the signatures of more than the required number of qualified assentors, the signatures (up to the required number of those assentors) appearing first on the nomination paper shall be taken into account to the exclusion of any others;

(g) where a person registered as a Dáil elector in the constituency signs as assentor the nomination papers of 2 or more different candidates in the same election, that person's signature on the first such nomination paper lodged with the local authority shall alone be regarded and that person's signature on every other nomination paper shall be disregarded.

(4C) For the purposes of subsections (4A) and (4B), a person whose application to have his name entered in a supplement to the register of electors is approved by the registration authority at or before the latest time for delivery of a nomination paper to the returning officer shall be deemed to be registered as a Dáil elector in the applicable constituency.”,

(e) by repealing sections 47 and 48,

(f) in section 52, by substituting the following for subsection (1):

“(1) The returning officer shall rule on the validity of each nomination paper within one hour after its delivery and may rule that it is invalid if, but only if, the returning officer considers that—

(a) in the case of the nomination paper of a candidate referred to in section 46(4A), the nomination is not assented to in the manner required by section 46, and

(b) in the case of the nomination paper of any candidate, the paper is for any other reason not properly made out or signed.”,

(g) in section 52(7) by deleting “47(1) or”,

(h) in section 124(3) by substituting “the purposes of subparagraph (ii) (inserted by the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 2001 ) of section 21 (1)(a) of the Electoral Act, 1997 ” for “the purposes of section 48(1)(e)”, and

(i) in the Second Schedule by inserting the following in Part II:

“14A. (1) Subject to paragraph (2), an application to be entered on the supplement to the register of electors shall be made by the applicant directly to the registration authority and the declaration on the application shall—

(a) before the application is submitted to the registration authority, be signed by the applicant in the presence of a member of the Garda Síochána from the applicant's local Garda station who, on being satisfied of the applicant's identity, including if necessary, by the production of photographic identification and any other identification that may be requested by that member, shall sign, date and stamp the application form, or

(b) where the applicant establishes in writing that he is unable to comply with subparagraph (a), be signed by the applicant in the presence of an official of the registration authority who, on being satisfied of the applicant's identity, including if necessary, by the production of photographic identification and any other identification that may be requested by that officer, shall sign, date and stamp the application form.

(2) Where the applicant is unable, due to a physical illness or physical disability, to comply with paragraph (1), the application shall be accompanied by a certificate in the form directed by the Minister from a medical practitioner certifying—

(a) the nature and extent of the applicant's physical illness or physical disability, and

(b) an indication of the expected duration of that illness or disability.

(3) Nothing in this rule limits the powers that are given to the registration authority under rule 5(3) and that under rule 15(1) apply in relation to the consideration of an application to be entered on the supplement to the register of electors.”.