European Assembly Elections (No. 2) Act , 1977

1 Interpretation.

1.—In this Act—

“the Act of 1963” means the Electoral Act, 1963;

“the Assembly” means the Assembly of the European Communities;

“Assembly election” has the meaning assigned to it by section 2 (1);

“Assembly elector” means a person who is entitled to vote at an Assembly election;

“the European Communities” means the European Economic Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community;

“local returning officer” means a person who pursuant to section 14 (2) is a local returning officer for the purpose of this Act;

“Member State” (except in Rule 47 (1) of the First Schedule) means a Member State of the European Communities;

“the Minister” means the Minister for the Environment;

“petition” means a petition presented to the High Court under this Act;

“the polling day”, except where the context otherwise requires, has the meaning assigned to it by section 6 (1);

“the postal voters list” means the list prepared pursuant to section 7 (4) of the Act of 1963;

“returning officer” means a person who is appointed by the Minister under section 14 (1) to be a returning officer for the purposes of this Act;

“the treaties” means the treaties, convention and decision mentioned in section 1 (1) of the European Communities Act, 1972, as supplemented or amended in the manner mentioned in that section.

2 Method of election.

2.—(1) Elections of representatives to the Assembly shall be held and each such election (in this Act referred to as an “Assembly election”) shall be conducted in accordance with this Act, and in case an Assembly election is contested, the poll shall be taken according to the principle of proportional representation, each elector having one transferable vote.

(2) The provisions of this Act replace the law providing for the designation by the Oireachtas of delegates to the Assembly and in force immediately before the commencement of this Act, but nothing in this subsection shall be construed as preventing the designation of such delegates by the Oireachtas at any time during the period commencing on the passing of this Act and ending on the day immediately preceding the day fixed for the first sitting of the Assembly to which representatives are first elected under this Act.

(3) Voting at an Assembly election shall be by secret ballot.

(4) In this section “transferable vote” means a vote which is—

(a) capable of being given so as to indicate the voter's preference for the candidates in order, and

(b) capable of being transferred to the next choice when the vote is not required to give a prior choice the necessary quota of votes, or when, owing to the deficiency in the number of the votes given for a prior choice, that choice is eliminated from the list of candidates.

3 Franchise and registration.

3.—(1) A person shall be entitled to be registered as an Assembly elector in a constituency, if he has reached the age of eighteen years and if, on the qualifying date, he was ordinarily resident in that constituency and was either,

(a) a citizen of Ireland, or

(b) a national of a Member State other than the State.

(2) Part II of the Act of 1963 (apart from subsections (1) and (2) of section 5), as amended by section 1 of the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1966, and section 4 of the Juries Act, 1976, shall apply as regards the registration of Assembly electors pursuant to this section and the register referred to in section 6 (1) of the Act of 1963 shall, in so far as it relates to persons entitled to vote at Assembly elections, be the register of European Assembly electors.

(3) For the purpose of giving effect to subsection (2) of this section each of the references in subsections (4), (5), (5A) (inserted by section 1 of the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1966) or (6) of section 5 of the Act of 1963 to “the purposes of this section” shall be construed as including a reference to the purposes of this section.

(4) In this section—

“national of a Member State” has the meaning it has in the treaties;

“the qualifying date” means the date specified by the Minister under section 5 (6) of the Act of 1963.

4 Right to vote.

4.—Subject to Rule 47 of the First Schedule to this Act, every person whose name is on the register of European Assembly electors for the time being in force for a constituency, and no other person, shall be entitled to vote at the poll at an Assembly election in that constituency.

5 Manner of voting.

5.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, a person who is entitled to vote at an Assembly election shall be entitled to vote in person only and at the polling station allotted to him or, in case he is authorised under Rule 36 of the First Schedule to this Act by a local returning officer, at the polling station specified in the authorisation.

(2) Every Assembly elector whose name is, at the time of an Assembly election, in the postal voters list for a county or county borough contained in a constituency shall be entitled to vote in that constituency at the poll at such election by sending his ballot paper by post to the local returning officer for that county or county borough and shall not be entitled to vote in any other manner.

6 Polling day and commencement of count.

6.—(1) The poll at an Assembly election shall—

(a) be taken on such day as shall be appointed by the Minister by order (which order shall be made not less than thirty-five days before the day thereby appointed),

(b) continue for such period, not being less than twelve hours, between the hours of 8.30 a.m. and 10.30 p.m. as may be fixed by the Minister by order, subject to the restriction that he shall fix the same period for all constituencies,

and the day so appointed is in this Act referred to as “the polling day”.

(2) The counting of the votes at an Assembly election shall begin on the day and at the time appointed by the Minister by order.

(3) An order under this section shall be published in the Iris Oifigiúil as soon as may be after it is made.

7 Qualification of candidates.

7.—(1) A person who is not eligible to become a member of Dáil Éireann shall not be eligible for election under this Act to the Assembly.

(2) If while he is a representative in the Assembly by virtue of this Act a person becomes subject to any of the disqualifications applicable to membership of Dáil Éireann he shall thereupon cease to be a representative in the Assembly.

8 Register of Political Parties.

8.—(1) The Registrar of Political Parties for the purposes of section 13 of the Act of 1963 (in this section subsequently referred to as “the Registrar”) shall, subject to the subsequent provisions of this section, register in the Register of Political Parties as a party organised to contest an Assembly election, any political party which applies to him for registration and which is, in his opinion, a genuine political party and organised in the State to contest such an election.

(2) A party which was registered in the Register of Political Parties at the commencement of this Act and which either—

(a) was registered pursuant to subsection (4) of section 13 of the Act of 1963, or

(b) when registered was in the opinion of either the Registrar or the appeal board referred to in subsection (8) of the said section 13 organised to contest a Dáil election,

shall, as soon as may be after such commencement, be registered in such Register by the Registrar as a party organised to contest an Assembly election.

(3) Where a party which is registered pursuant to this section in the Register of Political Parties satisfies the Registrar that a member of the party who is a delegate or representative in the Assembly is a member of a political group formed in accordance with the rules of procedure of the Assembly, the Registrar shall note on the Register, in relation to the party, the name of the group.

(4) Subsections (3), (5), (6) and (7) of section 13 of the Act of 1963 shall apply to registration under, or to political parties registered under, this section, as may be appropriate.

(5) Subsection (10) of section 13 of the Act of 1963 shall apply in relation to the performance by the Registrar of his duties under this section as it applies in relation to the performance by him of his duties under that section.

9 Nomination of candidates.

9.—(1) At an Assembly election a person may nominate himself as a candidate or may, with his consent, be nominated by another person (being a person registered as an Assembly elector in the constituency for which he proposes to nominate the candidate) as proposer.

(2) At an Assembly election a person may not be nominated as a candidate in respect of more than one constituency.

10 Deposit by candidates.

10.—A candidate at an Assembly election, or someone on his behalf, shall, before the expiration of the time appointed by this Act for receiving nominations, deposit with the returning officer the sum of one thousand pounds and if he fails to do so his candidature shall be deemed to have been withdrawn.

11 Conduct of elections.

11.—The rules contained in the First Schedule to this Act, other than Part V thereof, shall have effect in relation to Assembly elections.

12 Constituencies.

12.—(1) The constituencies for which candidates shall be elected under this Act to be representatives in the Assembly shall be those specified in the Second Schedule to this Act and the number of representatives to be so elected for such a constituency shall be the number specified in respect thereof in the third column of that Schedule.

(2) The Minister shall, within the period of twelve years commencing on the passing of this Act and at least once in every twelve years thereafter, submit to the Oireachtas proposals for the revision of the constituencies for which candidates shall be elected under this Act to be representatives in the Assembly.

(3) An area specified in the Second Schedule to this Act shall be taken to be that area as constituted on the 1st day of January, 1977.

13 Chief returning officer.

13.—(1) As soon as may be after the passing of this Act, and from time to time thereafter as occasion requires, the Minister shall appoint a fit and proper person to be the chief returning officer for the purposes of this Act.

(2) It shall be the duty of the chief returning officer to receive the returns furnished to him in pursuance of this Act by the returning officer for each constituency, to make in the prescribed form to the Assembly a return of the persons elected pursuant to this Act and to do such other things in respect of an Assembly election as he is required by law to do.

(3) There shall be charged on and paid out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof to the chief returning officer such sums as the Minister for the Public Service shall with the consent of the Minister for Finance sanction for that officer's services and expenses in respect of an Assembly election.

14 Returning officers and local returning officers.

14.—(1) The Minister shall for the purposes of this Act appoint a returning officer in respect of each constituency specified in the Second Schedule to this Act and the returning officer appointed under this section for such a constituency shall be one of the persons who by virtue of subsection (2) of this section is the local returning officer for a county or county borough contained in the constituency.

(2) There shall for the purposes of this Act be a local returning officer for every county or county borough contained in a constituency and the local returning officer shall be—

(a) in the case of a county or county borough for which there is a sheriff, the sheriff, and

(b) in every other case, the county registrar.

(3) It shall be the general duty of the returning officer to do all such acts and things, other than acts or things which are by this Act required to be done by a local returning officer, as may be necessary for effectually conducting an Assembly election in his constituency in accordance with this Act, to ascertain and declare the results of the election and to furnish to the chief returning officer a return of the persons elected for the constituency.

(4) Subject to subsection (5) (a) of this section, it shall be the duty of a local returning officer,

(a) to take the poll at an Assembly election in the part of the constituency for which he is the local returning officer,

(b) to do such acts and things as he is otherwise by this Act required to do, and

(c) to render such assistance to the returning officer for the said constituency as that returning officer may require,

and if any doubt arises as to the duties of a local returning officer, the doubt shall be determined by the Minister.

(5) (a) Where a local returning officer is appointed under this section to be the returning officer for a constituency, it shall be lawful for him with the consent of the Minister to appoint a deputy local returning officer for the discharge of all or any particular part of his duties as local returning officer.

(b) Subsequent references in this Act to the local returning officer shall include references to deputy local returning officers.

(6) The Minister for Finance shall prepare a scale of maximum charges for returning officers and local returning officers and every returning officer and local returning officer shall be paid by the said Minister out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof his reasonable charges, in respect of his services and expenses in relation to every Assembly election in respect of which he is the returning officer or local returning officer, not exceeding the maximum charges specified in the scale prepared under this section and applying for the time being.

(7) Any reference in this section to a county shall be construed as a reference to an administrative county.

15 Casual vacancies.

15.—(1) Where a casual vacancy occurs amongst the persons elected to the Assembly under this Act or appointed under this section, the procedure for filling the vacancy shall be as follows:

(a) subject to paragraph (b) of this subsection, the vacancy shall be filled by the appointment by Dáil Éireann of a person who is eligible for election under this Act to the Assembly,

(b) in case by reason of the last preceding Assembly election the relevant place in the Assembly was held by a person who was at that election a candidate of a political party which at the time of the said election was and for the time being is registered pursuant to this Act in the Register of Political Parties, the person appointed under this subsection to fill the vacancy shall, if, but only if, the nomination is made within three months of the day on which the vacancy occured, be a person nominated by that political party.

(2) A person appointed under subsection (1) of this section shall, unless he sooner dies, resigns, becomes disqualified for election under this Act to the Assembly, is removed from office or otherwise ceases to be a representative in the Assembly, hold office as such a representative for the residue of the term for which the representative whom he replaces would have held office had he not ceased to hold office.

(3) In this section “a casual vacancy” means,

(a) a vacancy occasioned by a person who though elected to the Assembly pursuant to this Act is, by virtue of any provision laid down under any or all of the treaties, not entitled to assume the office of representative in the Assembly,

(b) a vacancy occasioned by a person having ceased to be a representative in the Assembly otherwise than by the effluxion of time or in consequence of the making of an order under section 17 of this Act by the High Court.

16 Inspection of ballot papers, etc.

16.—(1) No person shall be allowed to inspect any of the documents mentioned in subsection (2) of this section except under an order of the High Court.

(2) The documents referred to in subsection (1) of this section are,

(a) the counterfoils of the ballot papers sent to postal voters under Rule 26 of the First Schedule to this Act,

(b) the documents mentioned in paragraph (2) or (3) of Rule 50 of the said Schedule,

(c) the documents mentioned in subparagraph (a) or (b) of Rule 69 (1) of the said Schedule, and

(d) the documents mentioned in subparagraph (a) or (b) of Rule 69 (2) of the said Schedule.

(3) An order referred to in subsection (1) of this section shall not be made unless the court is satisfied that the inspection or production of such documents is required for the purposes of instituting or maintaining a prosecution for an offence under this Act or for the purpose of a petition.

(4) An order referred to in subsection (1) of this section may be made subject to such conditions as to persons, time, place and mode of inspection or production as the court may think expedient, and shall make provision to ensure that the manner in which any voter voted shall not be disclosed.

(5) Where an order pursuant to this section is made for the production by the chief returning officer of any document in his possession relating to an Assembly election, the production by the chief returning officer of that document shall be sufficient to prove that the document relates to the specified election; and any endorsement appearing on any packet produced by the chief returning officer shall be, until the contrary is shown, sufficient evidence that the contents of such packet are what they are stated to be in such endorsement.

17 Questioning of Assembly elections.

17.—(1) An Assembly election may, and may only, be questioned by a petition to the High Court.

(2) (a) Subject to paragraph (b) of this subsection and Rule 97 (2) of the First Schedule to this Act, a petition shall not be accepted for lodgement with the court unless the petitioner lodges with the petition security in the sum of five thousand pounds for costs which may become payable by him.

(b) Where the court is satisfied that a petitioner is unable to lodge the amount specified in paragraph (a) of this subsection or that to require a petitioner to lodge the said amount would cause him serious hardship, the court may require him to lodge such lesser amount as the court considers appropriate.

(3) A petition may be presented by any person who has reached the age of eighteen years but may only be presented within a period specified in the Rules contained in Part V of the First Schedule to this Act and the said Rules shall have effect as regards the petition.