Representation of the People Act 1983

21 Proxies at parliamentary elections

(1) A person is not entitled to have more than one person at a time appointed as a proxy to vote for him at a parliamentary election.

(2) A person is not capable of being appointed to vote or of voting as proxy at a parliamentary election unless—

(a) he is not subject (age apart) to any legal incapacity to vote at a parliamentary election as an elector, and

(b) he is either a Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland,

and a person is not entitled to vote as proxy at the same election in any constituency on behalf of more than two electors of whom that person is not the husband, wife, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child or grandchild.

(3) A person otherwise qualified is capable of voting as proxy at a parliamentary election at which he is of voting age on the date of the poll, and of being appointed proxy for that purpose before he is of voting age.

(4) Subject to the foregoing provisions of this section a person is capable of being appointed proxy to vote at a parliamentary election and may vote in pursuance of the appointment.

(5) The appointment shall be made by the registration officer by means of a proxy paper issued by him on the elector's application, and it is the registration officer's duty to issue a proxy paper in pursuance of any application duly made to him, if he is satisfied—

(a) that the applicant is or will be registered for elections to which the application relates and entitled in respect of that registration to have a proxy appointed; and

(b) that the proxy is capable of being and willing to be appointed.

(6) The appointment may be cancelled by the elector by giving notice to the registration officer and shall cease to be in force on the issue of a proxy paper appointing a different person to vote for him, whether in respect of the same registration or elsewhere, but, subject to that, shall remain in force—

(a) in the case of an appointment for a person registered as a service voter, for all elections for which he remains registered as a service voter at the same qualifying address; and

(b) in the case of an appointment for a person not registered as a service voter, for all elections at which he is entitled to vote by proxy in pursuance of the same application to be treated as an absent voter.

(7) Stamp duty is not chargeable on any instrument appointing a proxy under this section.

(8) The registration officer shall keep a record of electors for whom proxies have been appointed and of the names and addresses of the persons appointed.