Electoral (Amendment) Act, 2002

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Amendment of European Parliament Elections Act, 1997.

2.—The European Parliament Elections Act, 1997 , is amended—

(a) in section 12, by inserting the following after subsection (1):

“(1A) In the case of a candidate whose candidature is not authenticated by a certificate of political affiliation under rule 5(3) of the Second Schedule, the candidate's nomination shall, before delivery of his or her nomination paper to the returning officer in accordance with rule 11 of that Schedule, be assented to by 60 persons (excluding the candidate and any proposer) who are registered as European electors in the constituency.

(1B) The following provisions apply in respect of the assents required by subsection (1A) 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 the nomination 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shall be deemed to be the nomination paper for that candidate for that European election unless the candidature is withdrawn under rule 15 of the Second Schedule or is deemed under rule 27 of the Second Schedule to have been withdrawn;

(d) to assent to the nomination, a person registered as a European 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 European 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.

(1C) For the purposes of subsections (1A) and (1B), a person whose application to have his or her 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 European elector in the constituency.”,

(b) by repealing section 13,

(c) in rule 2 of the Second Schedule, by substituting the following for paragraph (b):

“(b) the local authority offices where persons registered as European electors in the constituency may assent to the nomination of a candidate referred to in section 12(1A),”,

(d) in rule 5 of the Second Schedule, by inserting the following after subparagraph (a) of paragraph (1):

“(aa) a note of—

(i) the details to be entered on the nomination paper of a candidate referred to in section 12(1A) by a person assenting in accordance with section 12 to the candidate's nomination, and

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

(e) by deleting rules 8 and 9 of the Second Schedule,

(f) in rule 13(1) of the Second Schedule, by substituting the following for subparagraph (a):

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

(i) in the case of the nomination paper of a candidate referred to in section 12(1A), the nomination is not assented to in the manner required by section 12, and

(ii) 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 rule 13(7) of the Second Schedule, by deleting “section 13 or”, and

(h) in rule 88(3) of the Second Schedule, by substituting “ section 21 of the Electoral Act, 1997 ” for “rule 9(1)(e)”.