SCHEDULE 5 CONDUCT OF ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS AND RETURN OF ASSEMBLY MEMBERS

PART VII miscellaneous

Return of Assembly members and record of returns etc.
68. (1) The Assembly shall on receipt of a certificate delivered under paragraphs 57(4), 59(4) or, 67(10) or 67(11) 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 paragraph 66 or 67(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 concludes that an election to fill a casual vacancy in an Assembly constituency shall not be held because section 8(6) of the 1998 Act applies (date of poll not to be within three months preceeding an ordinary election), he shall—
(a) record in the returns book the fact of the vacancy in the Assembly constituency concerned, and
(b) that no election shall be held to fill the vacancy because section 8(6) of that Act applies.
(4) 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—
(i) in the returns book the fact of that vacancy in the Assembly electoral region concerned, and
(ii) that the seat (in accordance with section 9(7)(a) of the 1998 Act) is to remain vacant until the next ordinary election.
(5) 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.
(6) In relation to the first ordinary election, those certificates which by virtue of paragraphs 57(4) and 59(4) are required to be delivered to the Secretary of State shall be forwarded by him to the Assembly as soon as reasonably practicable; and on receipt of those certificates sub-paragraph (1) shall apply as if they had been delivered by, or caused to be delivered by, a constituency or regional returning officer (as the case may be) to the Assembly.