Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Act 1989
| Year | 1989 |
Elected Authorities(Northern Ireland) Act 1989
1989 CHAPTER 3
An Act to amend the law relating to the franchise at elections to district councils in Northern Ireland, to make provision in relation to a declaration against terrorism to be made by candidates at such elections and at elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly and by persons co-opted as members of district councils, to amend sections 3 and 4 of the Local Government Act (Northern Ireland) 1972, and for connected purposes.
[15th March 1989]
Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
Franchise for local elections
1 Local electors in Northern Ireland.
(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3) below, a person is entitled to vote as an elector at a local election in any district electoral area if—
(a) he is resident there on the qualifying date and was resident in Northern Ireland during the whole of the period of three months ending on that date,
(b) on that date and on the date of the poll—
(i) he is not subject to any legal incapacity to vote (age apart), and
(ii) he is either a Commonwealth citizen or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland, and
(c) he is of the age of eighteen years or over on the date of the poll.
(2) A person is not entitled to vote as an elector in any district electoral area unless registered there in the register of local electors to be used at the election.
(3) A person is not entitled to vote as an elector—
(a) more than once in the same district electoral area at any local election, or
(b) in more than one district electoral area at a local general election for any district.
(4) For the purposes of this section, a person does not attain the age of eighteen years until the beginning of the relevant anniversary of the day of his birth.
2 Application of provisions of Representation of the People Act 1983 to local elections in Northern Ireland.
(1) Notwithstanding section 205(2) of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (Act does not affect law relating to local government in Northern Ireland), the provisions of that Act specified in Part I of Schedule 1 to this Act shall have effect in Northern Ireland for the purposes of local elections (as well as parliamentary elections) but, in the case of local elections, with the modifications specified in Part II of that Schedule.
(2) In the case of local elections, it is immaterial for the purposes of section 3 of that Act (disfranchisement of convicted persons) as applied by this section whether the conviction or sentence was before or after the passing of this Act.
Disqualification for breach of declaration against terrorism or in consequence of imprisonment or detention
3 Declaration against terrorism: local elections.
(1) A person is not validly nominated as a candidate at a local election unless his consent to nomination includes a declaration in the form set out in Part I of Schedule 2 to this Act.
(2) In Schedule 5 to the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962 , in the Appendix of Forms, in the form headed ‘Candidate's consent to nomination’, after the paragraph beginning ‘I further declare’ there is inserted the paragraph set out in Part I of Schedule 2 to this Act.
4 Declaration against terrorism: councillors co-opted to fill casual vacancies.
(1) A person is not eligible to be chosen by a district council to fill a casual vacancy in the council unless he has made, and served on the clerk of the council, a declaration in the form set out in Part II of Schedule 2 to this Act.
(2) In section 11(4B) of the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962 (procedure for filling casual vacancy) in paragraph (c) for the words from ‘any person’ to ‘meeting’ there is substituted—
‘any person who—
(i) is qualified to be a member of the council;
(ii) has made, and served on the clerk of the council, a declaration in the form set out in Part II of Schedule 2 to the Elected Authorities (Northern Ireland) Act 1989; and
(iii) is not objected to by any member of the council present at the meeting;’.
5 Declaration against terrorism: Assembly elections.
5. A person is not validly nominated as a candidate at an election to the Northern Ireland Assembly unless his consent to nomination includes a declaration in the form set out in Part I of Schedule 2 to this Act.
6 Breach of terms of declaration.
(1) A person who has made a declaration required for the purposes of section 3, 4 or 5 of this Act in connection with a local election, an election to the Northern Ireland Assembly or the filling of a casual vacancy in a district council acts in breach of the terms of the declaration if at any time after he is declared to be elected at that election or is chosen to fill that vacancy and while he remains a member of the district council or of the Assembly—
(a) he expresses support for or approval of—
(i) a proscribed organisation, or
(ii) acts of terrorism (that is to say, violence for political ends) connected with the affairs of Northern Ireland, and
(b) he does so—
(i) at a public meeting, or
(ii) knowing, or in such circumstances that he can reasonably be expected to know, that the fact that he has made that expression of support or approval is likely to become known to the public.
(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) above a person shall be taken to express support for, or approval of, any matter if his words or actions could reasonably be understood as expressing support for, or approval of, it.
(3) It is immaterial for the purposes of subsection (1) above—
(a) whether the expression of support or approval is made by spoken or written words, by the display of written matter or by other behaviour, and
(b) whether it is made in the United Kingdom or elsewhere.
(4) This section has effect notwithstanding section 26(1) of the Northern Ireland Constitution Act 1973 (privileges of the Northern Ireland Assembly).
(5) In this section—
‘proscribed organisation’ has the same meaning as in section 21 of the Northern Ireland (Emergency Provisions) Act 1978 ,
‘public meeting’ includes—
(a) any meeting in a public place,
(b) any meeting which the public or any section of the public is permitted to attend, whether on payment or otherwise, and
(c) any meeting of the Northern Ireland Assembly, a district council or any committee or sub-committee of the Assembly or such a council (whether or not a meeting which the public is permitted to attend), and
‘public place’ means—
(a) any highway, and
(b) any place to which at the material time the public or any section of the public has access, on payment or otherwise, as of right or by virtue of express or implied permission.
7 Application to the High Court.
(1) Any one or more of the persons specified in subsection (2) below may apply to the High Court for a determination that a person has acted in breach of the terms of a declaration against terrorism made by him.
(2) The persons referred to in subsection (1) above are—
(a) in relation to a member of a district council—
(i) the district council,
(ii) any person who would be entitled to vote at an election to that council held on the date of the application, and
(iii) any other member of that council, and
(b) in relation to a member of the Northern Ireland Assembly—
(i) any person who would be entitled to vote at an election to the Assembly held in the member's constituency on the date of the application, and
(ii) any other member of the Assembly.
(3) For the purposes of this section, a person who was nominated—
(a) after the passing of this Act as a candidate for election to the office of member of a district council, or
(b) after the coming into force of section 5 of this Act as a candidate for election to the office of member of the Northern Ireland Assembly,
shall be conclusively presumed to have made a declaration in the form set out in Part I of Schedule 2 to this Act at the time of the nomination.
(4) For the purposes of this section, a person who was chosen by a district council after the passing of this Act to fill a casual vacancy in the council shall be conclusively presumed to have made a declaration in the form set out in Part II of Schedule 2 of this Act in relation to that vacancy before he was so chosen.
(5) Where on an application under this section the High Court is satisfied that the person to whom the application relates has acted in breach of the terms of a declaration...
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