79.—(1) The Clerk shall on receipt of a certificate delivered under rule 62(4), 64(3) or 78(10) enter the information contained in the certificate in a book kept for that purpose at the Assembly (in this paragraph referred to as “the returns book”).
(2) Where the Presiding Officer of the Assembly sends a notice under rule 77 or 78(1), he shall record in the returns book the fact of the vacancy in the Assembly constituency or electoral region concerned.
(3) Where the Presiding Officer of the Assembly is notified under rule 78(8) of the name of the person who is to fill an Assembly electoral region vacancy, he shall record in the returns book the name of that person, the name of the relevant Assembly electoral region and also the date on which he received that notification.
(4) Where a vacancy in an Assembly constituency can not be filled because, under the relevant enactment, an election to fill that vacancy must not be held(1), the Presiding Officer of the Assembly shall record in the returns book that—
(a)there is a vacancy in the Assembly constituency concerned; and
(b)under the relevant enactment, the seat is to remain vacant until the next Assembly general election.
(5) Where it comes to the notice of the Presiding Officer of the Assembly that—
(a)the seat of an Assembly member returned for an Assembly electoral region is vacant; and
(b)the person was returned as an individual candidate,
he shall record in the returns book that—
(i)there is a vacancy in the Assembly electoral region concerned; and
(ii)under the relevant enactment, the seat is to remain vacant until the next Assembly general election.
(6) The returns book shall be open to public inspection at reasonable times and any person may, on payment of a reasonable fee, obtain copies from the book.
(7) “The relevant enactment” means in relation to—
(a)a vacancy in an Assembly constituency, section 8(6) of the 1998 Act, in respect of a vacancy occurring before the 2007 Assembly general election and section 10(7) of the 2006 Act in relation to a vacancy occurring after that election; and
(b)a vacancy in an Assembly electoral region for which an individual candidate was the member, section 9(7)(a) of the 1998 Act, in respect of a vacancy occurring before the 2007 Assembly general election and section 11(7)(a) of the 2006 Act in relation to a vacancy occurring after that election.
As to the circumstances in which elections to fill vacancies in Assembly constituencies must be held and when they must not, see section 8 of the Government of Wales Act 1998 in respect of vacancies occurring before the Assembly general election to be held in 2007; and section 10 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 in respect of vacancies occurring after that election.