The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections Order 2012

Interpretation U.K.

2.—(1) In this Order—

“the 1983 Act” means the Representation of the People Act 1983 M1 ;

“the 2000 Act” means the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 M2 ;

“the 2001 Regulations” means Representation of the People (England and Wales) Regulations 2001 M3 ;

[F1 “the 2007 Order” means the National Assembly for Wales (Representation of the People) Order 2007;]

“the 2011 Act” means the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011;

“absent voter” means—

(a)

an elector who is entitled to vote by proxy, or

(b)

an elector or proxy who is entitled to vote by post;

[F2 “anonymous elector’s document” has the meaning given in regulation 3(1) of the Voter Identification Regulations 2022;]

“anonymous entry” is to be read in accordance with section 9B of the Representation of the People Act 1983 M4 ;

F3 ...

F3 ...

“authorised person” means a person (other than a barrister or solicitor) who, for the purposes of the Legal Services Act 2007 M5 , is an authorised person in relation to an activity which constitutes the exercise of a right of audience (within the meaning of that Act);

“bank holiday” means a day which is a bank holiday under the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 M6 in England and Wales;

“candidate” is to be read in accordance with article 3;

“the Commission” means the Electoral Commission established by section 1 of the 2000 Act;

“counting agent” is to be read in accordance with rule 31(11) of the PCC elections rules;

“disability”[F4 , except in paragraph 7A of Schedule 7], in relation to doing a thing, includes a short term inability to do it;

“election court” means the court constituted under Part 3 of the 1983 Act, as applied by paragraph 1 of Schedule 9, for the trial of a PCC election petition;

“elector”, in relation to a PCC election, means a person who has for the time being an entry on the register of electors, but does not include—

(a)

those shown in the register as below voting age on the day of the election, or

(b)

in the case of a person with an anonymous entry in the register, those shown in the record of anonymous entries as below voting age on the day of the election;

“electoral area” means any electoral division or ward or, in the case of a parish or community in which there are no wards, the parish or community, for which the election of councillors is held under the Local Government Act 1972 M7 ;

“electoral number” means a person's number in the register of electors or, pending publication of the register, the person's number (if any) in the electors lists for that register;

“legal incapacity” includes (in addition, where applicable, to any incapacity arising by virtue of a subsisting provision of the common law) any disqualification imposed by this Order or any other enactment;

“legal process” means a claim form, application notice, writ, summons or other process;

“the list of proxies” means a list kept under paragraph 4(3) of Schedule 2;

“local authority” means—

(a)

a district council,

(b)

a county council in England for a county in which there are no district councils,

(c)

the Council of the Isles of Scilly,

(d)

a county council or county borough council in Wales;

“local government election” means the election of councillors for any electoral area;

“local referendum” means—

(a)

a referendum in England under Part 1A of the Local Government Act 2000 M8 (local authority governance in England);

(b)

a referendum in Wales under Part 2 of the Local Government Act 2000 (local authorities in Wales: arrangements with respect to executives etc);

(c)

a referendum in England under Chapter 4ZA of Part 1 of the Local Government Finance Act 1992 M9 (council tax increases);

“local returning officer” means a person who, by virtue of section 35 of the 1983 Act, is a returning officer for any elections of members of a local authority [F5 (but see paragraph (2B)(b))];

F6 ...

“nominating officer” means the person registered under the 2000 Act as the officer with responsibility for the matters referred to in section 24(3) of that Act in respect of a registered party;

“PCC election” means an election of a police and crime commissioner in accordance with Chapter 6 of Part 1 of the 2011 Act;

“PCC election petition” means a petition presented in pursuance of Part 3 of the 1983 Act as applied by paragraph 1 of Schedule 9;

“PCC elections rules” has the meaning given in article 12;

“person” includes (without prejudice to the provisions of the Interpretation Act 1978 M10 ) an association corporate or unincorporate;

“police area” means a police area listed in Schedule 1 to the Police Act 1996 M11 (police areas outside London);

“police area returning officer”, in relation to any police area, means the person designated by an Order made by virtue of section 54(1)(b) of the 2011 Act as the returning officer for that police area;

“polling agent” is to be read in accordance with rule 31(11) of the PCC elections rules;

“postal ballot paper” means a ballot paper issued to a postal voter;

“postal proxy” means a person who is entitled to vote by post as proxy at a PCC election;

“postal voter” means an elector or proxy who is entitled to vote by post;

“postal voters list” means a list kept under paragraph 4(2) of Schedule 2;

“presiding officer” is to be read in accordance with rule 27 of the PCC elections rules;

“proxy postal voters list” means a list kept under paragraph 7(7) of Schedule 2;

“record of anonymous entries” means the record prepared in pursuance of regulations made by virtue of paragraph 8A of Schedule 2 to the 1983 Act M12 ;

[F7 “register of electors” means—

(a)

in relation to a PCC election in England the register of local government electors;

(b)

in relation to a PCC election in Wales—

(i)

the register of parliamentary electors, excluding any entry included in pursuance of an overseas elector’s declaration; and

(ii)

in the case of peers disqualified from voting as an elector at parliamentary elections and relevant citizens of the Union who will have attained the age of 18 on the date of the poll, the register of local government electors;]

“registered party” means a party registered under Part 2 of the 2000 Act;

“registration officer” means an electoral registration officer;

F8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

“relevant registration officer”, in relation to voting area, means the registration officer of the local authority in whose area that voting area is situated;

[F9 “Senedd election” means an election to return a member of the Senedd Cymru for a Senedd constituency or an election to return members of the Senedd for a Senedd electoral region (or both);]

[F10 “service declaration” means a declaration made by a person under and in accordance with section 15 of the 1983 Act (service declaration);]

[F9 “temporary electoral identity document” has the meaning given in regulation 3(1) of the Voter Identification Regulations 2022;]

“voter” means a voter voting in the PCC election and includes a person voting as proxy and “vote” (whether noun or verb) is to be construed accordingly; and a reference to an elector voting or an elector's vote includes a reference to an elector voting by proxy or an elector's vote given by proxy;

“voting area” has the meaning given by [F11 paragraph (2) or, where it applies, paragraph (2B)].

(2) [F12 Subject to paragraphs (2A) and (2B)(a),] each of the following, as it exists on the day of a PCC election, is a “voting area” for the purposes of this Order—

(a) a district for which there is a district Council,

(b) a county in England in which there are no districts with councils,

(c) the Isles of Scilly,

(d) a county or county borough in Wales.

[F13 (2A) Paragraph (2B) applies where the poll at a PCC election is required to be taken together with the poll at [F14 a Senedd] election by virtue of article 16A(1) of the 2007 Order.

(2B) At an election mentioned in paragraph (2A)—

(a) [F15 a Senedd] constituency as it exists on the day of the PCC election (and not a county or county borough) is a voting area for the purposes of this Order;

(b) a reference in this Order to the local returning officer for a voting area is a reference to the local returning officer exercising functions in relation to that voting area pursuant to regulation 2A of the Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Functions of Returning Officers) Regulations 2012; and

(c) the definition of “relevant registration officer” has effect as if at the end there were inserted “(but where a voting area comprises any part of the area of more than one local authority, the registration officer of the local authority in whose area the greater or greatest (as the case may be) number of electors is registered)”.

(2C) In paragraph (2B)(a) “ [F16 Senedd] ” means [F17 a Senedd] constituency as provided by section 2 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 ( [F16 Senedd] constituencies and electoral regions).]

(3) For the purposes of this Order a person is deemed not to have attained a given age until the commencement of the relevant anniversary of the day of the person's birth.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in art. 2(1) inserted (4.3.2016) by The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Amendment) Order 2016 (S.I. 2016/300), arts. 1(2), 3(2)(a) (with art. 1(3))

F2 Words in art. 2(1) inserted (16.1.2023) by The Voter Identification Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/1382), regs. 1(3), 56(a)(i) (with reg. 1(6)(7))

F3 Words in art. 2(1) omitted (16.1.2023) by virtue of The Voter Identification Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/1382), regs. 1(3), 56(a)(ii) (with reg. 1(6)(7))

F4 Words in art. 2(1) inserted (28.2.2020) by The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Amendment) Order 2020 (S.I. 2020/190), arts. 1(2), 2(2)

F5 Words in art. 2(1) inserted (4.3.2016) by The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Amendment) Order 2016 (S.I. 2016/300), arts. 1(2), 3(2)(b) (with art. 1(3))

F6 Words in art. 2(1) omitted (8.12.2021) by virtue of The Transfer of Functions (Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities) Order 2021 (S.I. 2021/1265), art. 1(2), Sch. 2 para. 30(2) (with art. 12)

F7 Words in art. 2 substituted (1.4.2018) by The Wales Act 2017 (Consequential and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/272), regs. 1, 4(a)

F8 Words in art. 2 omitted (1.4.2018) by virtue of The Wales Act 2017 (Consequential and Saving Provisions) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/272), regs. 1, 4(b)

F9 Words in art. 2(1) inserted (16.1.2023) by The Voter Identification Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/1382), regs. 1(3), 56(a)(iii) (with reg. 1(6)(7))

F10 Words in art. 2(1) inserted (31.10.2023) by The Representation of the People (Postal and Proxy Voting etc.) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1147), regs. 1(2), 17(2)

F11 Words in art. 2(1) substituted (4.3.2016) by The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Amendment) Order 2016 (S.I. 2016/300), arts. 1(2), 3(2)(c) (with art. 1(3))

F12 Words in art. 2(2) inserted (4.3.2016) by The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Amendment) Order 2016 (S.I. 2016/300), arts. 1(2), 3(3) (with art. 1(3))

F13 Art. 2(2A)-(2C) inserted (4.3.2016) by The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections (Amendment) Order 2016 (S.I. 2016/300), arts. 1(2), 3(4) (with art. 1(3))

F14 Words in art. 2(2A) substituted (16.1.2023) by The Voter Identification Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/1382), regs. 1(3), 56(b) (with reg. 1(6)(7))

F15 Words in art. 2(2B)(a) substituted (16.1.2023) by The Voter Identification Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/1382), regs. 1(3), 56(b) (with reg. 1(6)(7))

F16 Word in art. 2(2C) substituted (16.1.2023) by The Voter Identification Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/1382), regs. 1(3), 56(c)(i) (with reg. 1(6)(7))

F17 Words in art. 2(2C) substituted (16.1.2023) by The Voter Identification Regulations 2022 (S.I. 2022/1382), regs. 1(3), 56(c)(ii) (with reg. 1(6)(7))

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 Art. 2(1) modified (E.W.) (3.8.2012) by The Neighbourhood Planning (Referendums) Regulations 2012 (S.I. 2012/2031), regs. 1, 13, Sch. 4 Pt. 2 para. 38

Marginal Citations

M1 1983 c.2.

M2 2000 c.41.

M3 S.I. 2001/341.

M4 Section 9B was inserted by section 10(1) of the Electoral Administration Act 2006 (c.22).

M5 2007 c.29.

M6 1971 c.80.

M7 1972 c.70.

M8 2000 c.22. Part 1A of the Local Government Act 2000 was inserted by section 21 of, and Schedule 2 to, the Localism Act 2011 (c.20).

M9 1992 (c.14). Chapter 4ZA of Part 1 of that Act was inserted by section 72 of, and Schedule 5 to, the Localism Act 2011.

M10 1978 c.30.

M11 1996 c.16.

M12 Paragraph 8A was inserted by section 10(2) of, and paragraphs 2 and 15 of Schedule 1 to the Electoral Administration Act 2006 (c.22).