Elections: the rules for voting and standing

As elections approach, Peter Cheney checks out the lesser known rules for voting and standing.

Canadians, Jamaicans, Rwandans and Germans can all take to the hustings when Northern Ireland goes to the polls next May, according to the intricacies of electoral law.

The net for potential voters and candidates is thrown wide thanks to the UK’s close relations with Commonwealth and European countries, but there are some hurdles too. Bankruptcy, an impartial job or political extremism can all get in the way of a political career.

To vote

Voter qualifications are fairly straightforward. The age threshold remains 18, despite campaigns to lower that to 16. As for nationality, a voter may present any one of 79 passports.

British and Irish citizenship automatically entitles someone to vote in any poll. Commonwealth citizens can also vote in all elections, provided they can settle in the UK.

European Union citizens can vote in all polls except Westminster elections. Keeping national elections for a country’s own citizens is standard practice across member states, although the UK makes an exception for the two other Commonwealth countries in the EU: Malta and Cyprus. Turkish Cypriots are classed as citizens of Cyprus.

There are 27 EU member states and 54 Commonwealth countries. Fiji is suspended from the Commonwealth and Nauru’s membership fees are in arrears. However, this does not affect their citizens’ voting rights. Zimbabweans are not eligible as Robert Mugabe left the organisation in 2003.

The alternative vote referendum will use the same franchise as the general election.

To stand

The minimum age for candidates is also 18. Nationality requirements in each election match those for voters. If someone does tick the right boxes, he or she can still be disqualified from standing.

In general, Assembly and European elections, the following are excluded, to ensure their impartiality:

• judges;

• civil servants;

• police officers;

• members of the armed forces.

A wide range of quango posts also falls under this category. A person can also be disqualified on personal or legal grounds:

• bankruptcy;

• mental disability;

• prisoners serving a sentence exceeding one year;

• persons convicted of a corrupt or illegal election practice.

The ban on bankrupts is designed to protect Parliament’s reputation when handling public money. If a person cannot manage their personal finances, so the thinking goes, they can’t be trusted with the national finances.

Council election requirements are stricter to make sure the candidate has a genuine local connection to the area. A candidate must meet one of these conditions within the relevant district:

• registration as a voter;

• occupying land or residing for 12 months before polling day;

• having their principal place of work for 12 months before polling day;

Bankrupts and council employees are excluded, as are some convicted persons. Dawn Purvis also hopes to ban MLAs from sitting on councils through her Local Government (Disqualification) Bill.

Since March 1989, council candidates have also had to declare that they “will not by word or deed express support for or approval of” a proscribed organisation or acts of terrorism “connected with the affairs of Northern Ireland.” Republican Sinn Féin claims that this prevents its members from standing.

Asked why this did not apply to other elections, an NIO spokeswoman said the requirement was introduced as a result of “specific circumstances arising in district councils.” At the time, Secretary of State Tom King claimed that some politicians had used their speaking rights to support violence e.g. Danny Morrison’s Armalite and the ballot box speech.

Peers sitting in the Lords can stand for the Assembly but not the Commons. Three MLAs have peerages: Bannside, Browne and Morrow. Non-sitting peers can stand in any election.

EU officials and national government ministers from member states are barred

from standing in European polls.

Parliamentarians from the Republic or Commonwealth countries can stand in Westminster or Assembly elections. Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard could, technically, run for election in her home constituency, the Vale of Glamorgan.

It’s much more likely, though, that immigrants and ethnic minorities will increasingly stand for election as they become a more significant part of Northern Ireland’s society.