The National Assembly for Wales (Representation of the People) Order 2007

PART 7 Miscellaneous

Vacancies: Assembly constituency seats

77.  Where the date of the poll to fill a vacant seat for an Assembly constituency is fixed by the Presiding Officer of the Assembly(1) he shall forthwith send a notice to the returning officer for the Assembly constituency stating—

(a) that the vacancy exists; and

(b) the date fixed for the poll to fill that vacancy.

Vacancies: return of electoral region members

78.—(1) Other than where article 101 applies, where it comes to the notice of the Presiding Officer of the Assembly that the seat of an Assembly member returned from a party list for an Assembly electoral region is vacant, he shall forthwith send a notice in accordance with paragraph (2) to the returning officer for the Assembly electoral region(2).

(2) A notice under paragraph (1) shall—

(a) state that a vacancy exists; and

(b) set out the name of the person who had been returned to fill that seat, together with the name of the registered political party on whose list he was included.

(3) Where a regional returning officer receives a notice under paragraph (1), he shall ascertain from the list submitted at the previous Assembly general election by the registered political party named in the notice the name and address of the person whose name now appears highest on that list (“the prospective member”).

(4) The regional returning officer shall take such steps as appear to him to be reasonable—

(a) to contact the prospective member to ask whether he will state that he is willing to serve as an Assembly member for the Assembly electoral region; and

(b) to contact the registered nominating officer of the registered political party on whose list that person is included and notify that officer of the action he is taking under sub-paragraph (a).

(5) Where within such period as the regional returning officer considers reasonable-—

(a) he decides that the steps he has taken to contact the prospective member have been unsuccessful; or

(b) he has not received from the prospective member a statement in writing that he is willing to serve as an Assembly member for the Assembly electoral region; or

(c) the prospective member has stated in writing he is not willing to so serve as an Assembly member; or

(d) the regional returning officer—

(i) is satisfied that the prospective member is not a member of the registered political party on whose list he is included; and

(ii) receives notice signed by the registered nominating officer of that party that the prospective member’s name is not to be notified to the Presiding Officer of the Assembly as the name of the person who is to fill the vacancy(3),

the prospective member shall be treated as ceasing to be included on that list for the purposes of filling that vacancy.

(6) Where a person is so treated, the regional returning officer shall repeat the procedure required by paragraph (4) in respect of the person (if any) whose name and address appears next highest on that list; and paragraph (5) and this paragraph shall also apply with respect to that person.

(7) The regional returning officer shall continue to repeat the procedure until he has notified to the Presiding Officer of the Assembly the name of the person who is to fill the vacancy or the names on that list are exhausted.

(8) Subject to paragraph (5)(d), where a prospective member states in writing in response to the question from the regional returning officer under paragraph (4)(a) (including that sub-paragraph as applied by paragraph (6)) that he is willing to serve as an Assembly member for the Assembly electoral region, the regional returning officer shall forthwith notify to the Presiding Officer of the Assembly the name of that person as the person to fill the vacancy(4).

(9) The regional returning officer shall forthwith give public notice of the name—

(a) of the member to be returned; and

(b) of the registered political party for which such a member was a party list candidate.

(10) Where following the application of this rule the seat continues to be vacant the regional returning officer shall forthwith—

(a) give public notice that the vacancy cannot be filled and that the seat will remain vacant until the next Assembly general election by virtue of the relevant enactment;

(b) complete a certificate in form CT set out in English and Welsh in Schedule 10; and

(c) deliver it, or cause it to be delivered, to the Clerk.

(11) In paragraph (10) “the relevant enactment” means, in respect of a vacancy occurring before the 2007 Assembly general election, section 9(7)(b) of the 1998 Act and in respect of vacancies occurring after that election, section 11(7)(b) of the 2006 Act.

(12) References to “the Clerk” in paragraph (10)(c) and in rule 79(1) shall, in relation to any vacancy in an Assembly electoral region occurring before the 2007 Assembly general election, be construed as references to the Clerk to the Assembly constituted by the 1998 Act.

Return of Assembly members and record of returns etc

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(5), 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.

Registered political parties

80.—(1) For the purposes of the application of these rules in relation to an Assembly election “registered political party” means a party which was registered under Part 2 of the 2000 Political Parties Act on the day (“the relevant day”) which is two days before the last day for the delivery of nomination papers at the election in accordance with the Table in rule 1(1).

(2) A registered political party is a qualifying party in relation to an Assembly constituency or electoral region if the party was on the relevant day registered in respect of Wales in the Great Britain register maintained under that Part of that Act.

(3) For the purposes of paragraph (1) any day as mentioned in rule 2 should be disregarded.

Party’s registered nominating officer: discharge of functions

81.—(1) A registered nominating officer for a registered political party may, in writing, appoint one or more persons to discharge all or any of his functions conferred or imposed by these rules.

(2) Where an appointment is made under paragraph (1), a copy of the document which records the writing required by that paragraph shall be delivered—

(a) to the constituency returning officer, in the case of a constituency election;

(b) to the regional returning officer, in the case of a regional election; and

(c) to each constituency returning officer for an Assembly constituency in the Assembly electoral region, in the case of a regional election.

(3) Where a returning officer does not receive a copy of the document required to be delivered to him under paragraph (2), he shall be entitled to treat any function of the registered nominating officer purportedly exercised (or to be exercised) on his behalf by another person as not so exercised (or exercisable).

(1)

See Section 10(4) of the Government of Wales Act 2006. By virtue of section 8(6) of the Government of Wales Act 1998, section 8 of that Act of 1998 is now spent in relation to such vacancies occurring before the Assembly general election in 2007.

(2)

In relation to a vacancy occurring before the Assembly general election in 2007, see section 9 of that Act of 1998 and in relation to subsequent vacancies see section 11 of that Act of 2006 as modified by paragraph 7 of Schedule 11 to that Act of 2006.

(3)

See section 9(4) of the Government of Wales Act 1998 in relation to a vacancy occurring before the Assembly general election in 2007; for subsequent elections see section 11(4) of the Government of Wales Act 2006.

(4)

That person is treated as having been declared to be returned as an Assembly regional member on the day the notification is received by the Presiding Officer of the Assembly, see section 9(6) of the Government of Wales Act 1998 in relation to a vacancy occurring before the 2007 Assembly general election; and section 11(6) of the Government of Wales Act 2006 in relation to subsequent vacancies.

(5)

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.