Representation of the People Act 1989
| Year | 1989 |
Representation of thePeople Act 1989
1989 CHAPTER 28
An Act to amend the law relating to the entitlement of British citizens resident outside the United Kingdom to vote at parliamentary elections and elections to the European Parliament and to increase the maximum amount of candidates' election expenses at parliamentary by-elections.
[27th July 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:—
Further provisions about enfranchisement of British citizens overseas
1 Extension of permitted period of overseas residence.
1. In sections 1(3)(c) and 3(4)(c) of the Representation of the People Act 1985(person resident abroad may qualify as an elector if previously included, as resident in the United Kingdom, in a register prepared by reference to a date within the preceding five years), for ‘five years’ there is substituted ‘twenty years’.
2 Extension to those not previously registered in United Kingdom because of age.
(1) After section 1(3) of the Representation of the People Act 1985 (conditions for qualifying as an overseas elector include previous registration as resident in the United Kingdom) there is inserted—
(3A) The second set of conditions is that—
(a) he was last resident in the United Kingdom within the period of twenty years ending immediately before the qualifying date,
(b) he was by reason only of his age incapable of being included in any register of parliamentary electors prepared by reference to the last date within that period by reference to which such registers were prepared on which he was so resident, and
(c) the address at which he was resident on the date referred to in paragraph (b) above was at a place that is situated within the constituency concerned and a parent or guardian of his was included, in respect of that address, in a register of parliamentary electors or a register of local government electors prepared by reference to that date’.
(2) After section 3(4) of that Act (conditions for peer to qualify as an overseas elector for European Parliamentary elections include previous registration as resident in the United Kingdom) there is inserted—
(4A) The second set of conditions is that—
(a) he was last resident in the United Kingdom within the period of twenty years ending immediately before the qualifying date,
(b) he was by reason only of his age incapable of being included in any register of local government electors prepared by reference to the last date within that period by reference to which such registers were prepared on which he was so resident, and
(c) the address at which he was resident on the date referred to in paragraph (b) above was at a place that is situated within the constituency concerned and a parent or guardian of his was included, in respect of that address, in a register of parliamentary electors or a register of local government electors prepared by reference to that date’.
3 Provisions supplementary to section 2.
(1) In section 1 of the Representation of the People Act 1985—
(a) in subsection (2)(b), for ‘the following’ there is substituted ‘one of the following sets of’,
(b) in subsection (3), for ‘Those conditions are’ there is substituted ‘The first set of conditions is’, and
(c) at the end of subsection (4) there is inserted ‘and the reference in subsection (3A) above to a register of local government electors includes a reference to a register of electors prepared for the purposes of local elections (within the meaning of the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962 )’.
(2) In section 2 of that Act—
(a) in subsection (1), at the end of...
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