2010 No. 2944

Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Assembly (Minimum Period) Order 2010

Made

Laid before Parliament

Coming into force

The Secretary of State in exercise of the power conferred by section 31(6) of the Northern Ireland Act 19981 makes the following Order:

Citation and commencement1

1

This Order may be cited as the Northern Ireland Assembly (Minimum Period) Order 2010.

2

This Order comes into force on 10th January 2011.

Dissolution of the Northern Ireland Assembly: Minimum Period2

1

The minimum period for the purpose of section 31(6) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (dates of elections and dissolutions) is 26 days.

2

Rule 2 of the Assembly Elections Rules2 applies when computing the period mentioned in paragraph (1).

Owen PatersonOne of Her Majesty’s Principal Secretaries of StateNorthern Ireland Office
EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

By virtue of section 31 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, ordinary general elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly are held on the first Thursday in May every four years. The predecessor Assembly must be dissolved at the start of the minimum period which ends with the date of the poll for the election and that period is determined in accordance with an Order made by the Secretary of State.

This Order makes provision for the determination of the minimum period which is to be 26 days, computed in accordance with rule 2 of the Assembly Elections Rules (which makes provision for days that are to be disregarded).