European Assembly Elections Regulations 1979
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
1979 No. 338
REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE
The European Assembly Elections Regulations 197920thMarch 1979
3rdApril 1979
Whereas a draft of these Regulations has been approved by a resolution of each House of Parliament:
Now, therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred upon me by paragraph 2 of Schedule 1 to the European Assembly Elections Act 1978(a), I hereby make the following Regulations:—
Citation, commencement and extent
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the European Assembly Elections Regulations 1979 and shall come into operation on the fourteenth day after the day on which they are made.
(2) These Regulations shall not extend to Northern Ireland.
Interpretation
2.—(1) Unless the context otherwise requires, in these Regulations and in any provision applied by these Regulations:—
the "Act of 1949" means the Representation of the People Act 1949(b);
the "Act of 1969" means the Representation of the People Act 1969(c);
the "Act of 1978" means the European Assembly Elections Act 1978;
"Assembly" means the Assembly of the European Communities;
"Assembly constituency" means an Assembly constituency for the time being specified in an Order in Council made under Schedule 2 to the Act of 1978;
"day of the poll" and "date of the poll" mean the day appointed by order under paragraph 3 of Schedule 1 to the Act of 1978 for the holding of the election;
"elections rules" or "parliamentary elections rules" mean the rules in Schedule 2 to the Act of 1949, as applied by Schedule 1 to these Regulations;
"elector" means a person who under paragraph 2(1) of Schedule 1 to the Act of 1978 is entitled to vote at an Assembly election in a particular Assembly constituency;
(a) 1978 c. 10.
(b) 1949 c. 68.
(c) 1969 c. 15.
"postal proxy" means a person entitled to vote by post as a proxy at an election;
"register" means the register or registers of parliamentary, or in the case of peers local government, electors in force within a particular Assembly constituency at the time of an Assembly election in that constituency;
"registered", in relation to an elector, means a person registered on a register;
"registration officer" has the meaning assigned thereto by Regulation 5(1);
"Regulations of 1974" mean the Representation of the People Regulations 1974(a);
"Regulations of 1975" mean the Representation of the People (Scotland) Regulations 1975(b);
"representative" means a representative to the Assembly;
"verifying officer" means the officer, appointed by the returning officer, with responsibility for the verification of the ballot paper accounts.
(2) Any reference in these Regulations or in the provisions applied by these Regulations to the time when any proceeding at an Assembly election is due to take place (for example, publication of notice of election) shall be determined in accordance with the timetable in rule 1 of the elections rules.
(3) Unless the context otherwise requires, a reference in these Regulations to a numbered Regulation shall be construed as a reference to a Regulation contained in these Regulations and a reference to a paragraph shall be construed as a reference to a paragraph in the same Regulation.
Application of certain statutory provisions to Assembly elections
3.—(1) The provisions of the Act of 1949, the Act of 1969, the Post Office Act 1969(c) and the Local Government Act 1972(d) specified in column 1 of Schedule 1 to these Regulations shall, subject to the modifications and exceptions (if any) specified in relation to those provisions in column 2 of that Schedule, apply in connection with Assembly elections; but any provision relating solely to a local government election and references in connection therewith (including a reference to a petition questioning an election under the local government Act) shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be disregarded.
(2) The provisions of the Regulations referred to in Schedule 2 to these Regulations specified in column 1 of that Schedule shall, subject to the modifications and exceptions (if any) specified in relation to those provisions in column 2 of that Schedule, apply in connection with Assembly elections; but any provision relating solely to a local government election and references in connection therewith shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be disregarded.
(3) Unless the context otherwise requires, in the provisions applied by Schedules 1 and 2:—
(a) any reference to a parliamentary election shall be construed as a reference to an Assembly election and any reference to a general election shall be accordingly construed as a reference to an Assembly general election;
(b) any reference to a constituency shall be construed as a reference to an Assembly constituency;
(c) any reference to a returning officer shall be construed as a reference to such an officer at an Assembly election;
(a) S.1.1974/648, as amended by S.I. 1977/105; 1978/197.
(b) S.I. 1975/850, as amended by S.I. 1977/111; 1978/205.
(c) 1969 c. 48.
(d) 1972 c. 70.
(d) any reference to a member in the context of a Member of Parliament shall be construed as a reference to a representative;
(e) any reference to a parliamentary election petition shall be construed as a reference to an Assembly election petition, except that this construction shall not apply to any reference to the rota for the trial of parliamentary election petitions;
(f) any reference to return in the context of the return to the writ shall be construed as a reference to the declaration of result made by the returning officer under rule 51 of the elections rules.
(4) Unless the context otherwise requires, in the provisions applied by Schedules 1 and 2 to these Regulations, any reference to an enactment or instrument made under an enactment shall be construed as a reference to that enactment or instrument as applied by these Regulations.
(5) Any reference in the Regulations of 1974 or 1975, as applied by these Regulations, to Forms E, F, H, X or Y shall be construed as a reference to the form identified by means of that letter in the Schedules to the Regulations of 1974 or 1975 respectively, as those Schedules are applied by these Regulations.
(6) Any reference in the Regulations of 1974 or 1975, as applied by these Regulations, to any form identified by means of a letter other than the forms referred to in paragraph (5), shall be construed as a reference to the form so identified in the Schedules to the Regulations of 1974 or 1975, as amended by Regulation 4 of, and Schedule 3 to, these Regulations.
(7) In the headings to the forms referred to in paragraph (5) as applied by these Regulations, for the words "Representation of the People Acts" there shall be substituted the words "European Assembly Elections Act 1978".
Amendment of certain forms in Schedules to Regulations of 1974 and 1975
4.—(1) The forms in the Schedules to the Regulations of 1974 and 1975 which are specified in paragraph (3) shall be amended in accordance with paragraph (2) and Schedule 3 to these Regulations.
(2) In the headings to the forms specified in paragraph (3) after "Representation of the People Acts" there shall be inserted the words "European Assembly Elections Act 1978".
(3) The forms referred to in this Regulation are identified as Forms D, G, J, K, L, M, N, Q, R, S, T, U, V and W in the Schedule to the Regulations of 1974 and in the Schedule to the Regulations of 1975.
Registration officers
5.—(1) In these Regulations and in any provision as applied by these Regulations, any reference to the registration officer is a reference to the electoral registration officer; and the electoral registration officers for any Assembly constituency are:
(a) in England and Wales, each person appointed under section 39 of the Local Government Act 1972(a) as registration officer for any parliamentary constituency or part of any parliamentary constituency which is wholly or partly contained in an Assembly constituency; and
(a) As respects the Isles of Scilly, as substituted by Article 6(4) of, and the Schedule to, the Isles of Scilly Order 1978 (S.I. 1978/1844).
(b) in Scotland, each person appointed under section 6(3) of the Act of 1949(a) as registration officer for any parliamentary constituency or part of any parliamentary constituency which is wholly or partly contained in an Assembly constituency.
(2) In England and Wales, from the date of the publication of the notice of an Assembly election, the functions of a registration officer in connection with applications to vote by post or proxy or by a proxy to vote by post at that election shall be exercised by the returning officer:
Provided that a registration officer shall, on the request of the returning officer, exercise the aforementioned functions in respect of the area for which he was appointed.
Discharge of duties of returning officers in England and Wales
6.—(1) In England and Wales, the duties of the returning officer at an Assembly election in any Assembly constituency, except those referred to in paragraph (2), shall be discharged by the acting returning officer who, by virtue of section 18(1) of the Act of 1949(b) would discharge such of his functions as are referred to in the said section 18(1) at a parliamentary election.
(2) The duties excepted from paragraph (1) are any duties imposed under rule 51 of the elections rules which the person (if any) who for the time being holds the office of returning officer reserves to himself and undertakes to perform in person.
(3) The returning officer shall give to the acting returning officer written notice of any duties which he reserves to himself under paragraph (2), and that paragraph shall, in the case of any election, apply to the duties (if any) of which notice is so given not later than the day following that on which the notice of election is published.
Transitional provisions for voting by post or by proxy
7.—(1) Any application to be treated as an absent voter or any application for the issue of a...
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