Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962

[F1 11D Independent members: filling casual vacancies N.I.

(1) The following provisions apply if—

(a) a casual vacancy arises in the seat of a member of a district council,

(b) the Chief Electoral Officer determines the previous member stood as an independent when elected, and

(c) the previous member has given the Chief Electoral Officer a list of substitutes.

(2) As soon as practicable after receiving the notice of the vacancy the Chief Electoral Officer must take such steps as appear to the Chief Electoral Officer to be reasonable to contact the person who appears as the first choice in the list of substitutes with the request mentioned in subsection (3).

(3) That request is for the person to respond in writing in accordance with subsection (4) within 14 days from the date of the Chief Electoral Officer's request indicating whether the person is prepared to fill the vacancy.

(4) If the person is prepared to fill the vacancy, the response must—

(a) state the person's date of birth,

(b) declare that to the best of the person's knowledge and belief the person is qualified to be returned to fill the vacant seat,

(c) declare that the person has made and served on the clerk of the council a declaration in the form set out in Part 2 of Schedule 2 to the Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Act 1989, and

(d) be signed and dated by the person.

(5) Subsection (6) applies if—

(a) the Chief Electoral Officer has taken reasonable steps to contact a person on the list of substitutes but has been unable to do so,

(b) a person on the list of substitutes fails to respond to the Chief Electoral Officer's request in accordance with subsections (3) and (4), or

(c) a person on the list of substitutes responds to the Chief Electoral Officer's request to indicate that the person is not prepared to fill the vacancy.

(6) If this subsection applies—

(a) the person is not returned for the seat in question, and

(b) the Chief Electoral Officer must repeat the procedure in subsection (2) in respect of each subsequent person (if any) whose name and address appears in the list of substitutes until the vacancy is filled or the names on the list are exhausted.

(7) If a person responds to the Chief Electoral Officer's request in accordance with subsections (3) and (4) indicating that the person is prepared to fill the vacancy the Chief Electoral Officer must—

(a) declare that person to be returned to fill the vacant seat, and

(b) notify the person's name to the clerk of the council.

(8) But the Chief Electoral Officer may not declare a person to be returned to fill the vacant seat unless the clerk of the council has confirmed to the Chief Electoral Officer that a declaration by that person in the form set out in Part 2 of Schedule 2 to the Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Act 1989 has been received by the clerk.

(9) If the Chief Electoral Officer is unable to fill the vacancy under this section, an election must be held to fill the vacancy.

(10) If—

(a) a casual vacancy arises in the seat of a member of a district council,

(b) the Chief Electoral Officer determines the previous member stood as an independent when elected, and

(c) the previous member has not given the Chief Electoral Officer a list of substitutes,

an election must be held to fill the vacancy.

(11) This section is subject to section 11K (unfilled vacancies in a local election year).]

F1 Ss. 11A-11H, 11J, 11K inserted (1.4.2010) by Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962 (Amendment) Order 2010 (S.I. 2010/1178), arts. 1(2), 3