Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 2001

[F1 Overseas electors: power to require attestation as to applicant’s connection to relevant address S

26H.— (1) Subject to paragraph (2), this regulation applies where—

(a) a person makes an application under section 10ZC of the 1983 Act in pursuance of an overseas elector’s declaration (“the applicant”),

(b) the registration officer requires the applicant to give documentary evidence or an attestation in accordance with regulation 26F(2) or 26G(3), and

(c) the registration officer considers that additional evidence is necessary in order to satisfy the registration officer that the applicant has a previous connection to the relevant address.

(2) This regulation does not apply where regulation 26G(4)(d) applies to the applicant.

(3) The registration officer may require that the applicant give an attestation of relevant address connection which must—

(a) confirm that the applicant met the relevant address connection requirement, and

(b) give an indication of the dates between which, to the best of the qualifying attestor’s knowledge, the applicant met the requirement.

(4) The relevant address connection requirement is—

(a) where regulation 26F(1)(b)(i) applies to the applicant (including where it applies in accordance with regulation 26F(1)(b)(iii)), that the applicant would have been residing at the relevant address but for the applicant’s service qualification within the meaning of section 14(1) or (1A) of the 1983 Act;

(b) where regulation 26F(1)(b)(ii) applies to the applicant (including where it applies in accordance with regulation 26F(1)(b)(iii)), that the applicant—

(i) would have been residing at the relevant address but for the applicant’s occupation as a merchant seaman, or

(ii) commonly stayed at the relevant address, which was a hotel or club providing accommodation for merchant seamen, during the course of the applicant’s occupation as a merchant seaman;

(c) where regulation 26G(4)(a) or (b) applies to the applicant, that the applicant would have been residing at the relevant address if the applicant had not been a patient or detained;

(d) where regulation 26G(4)(c) applies to the applicant, that the relevant address was, or was nearest to, a place in the United Kingdom where the applicant commonly spent a substantial part of the applicant’s time (whether during the day or at night);

(e) where regulation 26G(4)(e) applies to the applicant, that—

(i) the applicant would have been residing at the relevant address but for the applicant’s detention,

(ii) the applicant was resident at the relevant address immediately before the applicant’s detention, or

(iii) the relevant address was, or was nearest to, a place in Scotland where the applicant commonly spent a substantial part of the applicant’s time (whether during the day or at night).

(5) In this regulation—

“qualifying attestor” has the meaning given in regulation 26I(3);

“relevant address” means the address provided by the applicant in accordance with section 1C(2)(a)(i) or (4) of the 1985 Act.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Regs. 26C-26J inserted (16.1.2024) by The Representation of the People (Overseas Electors etc.) (Amendment) Regulations 2023 (S.I. 2023/1406), regs. 1(2), 10(8) (with Sch. 2 para. 2(d))