European assembly elections act, 1977

• Enactment Date: 09 December 1977
• Act Number: 30

Number 30 of 1977
EUROPEAN ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS ACT, 1977
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
Section 1. Interpretation. 2. Method of election. 3. Franchise and registration. 4. Right to vote. 5. Manner of voting. 6. Polling day and commencement of count. 7. Qualification of candidates. 8. Register of Political Parties. 9. Nomination of candidates. 10. Deposit by candidates. 11. Conduct of elections. 12. Constituencies. 13. Chief returning officer. 14. Returning officers and local returning officers. 15. Casual vacancies. 16. Inspection of ballot papers, etc. 17. Questioning of Assembly elections. 18. Prohibition of disclosure of vote. 19. Regulations. 20. Expenses. 21. Amendment of Act of 1963. 22. Amendment of section 48 and 74 of Defence Act, 1954. 23. Short title.
FIRST SCHEDULE
SECOND SCHEDULE
Number 30 of 1977
EUROPEAN ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS ACT, 1977
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ELECTION OF REPRESENTATIVES TO THE ASSEMBLY OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES. [9th December, 1977]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:
	Interpretation.	1.—In this Act—
	“the Act of 1963” means the Electoral Act, 1963 ;
	“the Assembly” means the Assembly of the European Communities;
	“Assembly election” has the meaning assigned to it by section 2 (1);
	“Assembly elector” means a person who is entitled to vote at an Assembly election;
	“the European Communities” means the European Economic Community, the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community;
	“local returning officer” means a person who pursuant to section 14 (2) is a local returning officer for the purpose of this Act;
	“Member State” (except in Rule 47 (1) of the First Schedule) means a Member State of the European Communities;
	“the Minister” means the Minister for the Environment;
	“petition” means a petition presented to the High Court under this Act;
	“the polling day”, except where the context otherwise requires, has the meaning assigned to it by section 6 (1);
	“the postal voters list” means the list prepared pursuant to section 7 (4) of the Act of 1963;
	“returning officer” means a person who is appointed by the Minister under section 14 (1) to be a returning officer for the purposes of this Act;
	“the treaties” means the treaties, convention and decision mentioned in section 1 (1) of the European Communities Act, 1972 , as supplemented or amended in the manner mentioned in that section.
	Method of election.	2.—(1) Elections of representatives to the Assembly shall be held and each such election (in this Act referred to as an “Assembly election”) shall be conducted in accordance with this Act, and in case an Assembly election is contested, the poll shall be taken according to the principle of proportional representation, each elector having one transferable vote.
	(2) The provisions of this Act replace the law providing for the designation by the Oireachtas of delegates to the Assembly and in force immediately before the commencement of this Act, but nothing in this subsection shall be construed as preventing the designation of such delegates by the Oireachtas at any time during the period commencing on the passing of this Act and ending on the day immediately preceding the day fixed for the first sitting of the Assembly to which representatives are first elected under this Act.
	(3) Voting at an Assembly election shall be by secret ballot.
	(4) In this section “transferable vote” means a vote which is—
	(a) capable of being given so as to indicate the voter's preference for the candidates in order, and
	(b) capable of being transferred to the next choice when the vote is not required to give a prior choice the necessary quota of votes, or when, owing to the deficiency in the number of the votes given for a prior choice, that choice is eliminated from the list of candidates.
	Franchise and registration.	3.—(1) A person shall be entitled to be registered as an Assembly elector in a constituency, if he has reached the age of eighteen years and if, on the qualifying date, he was ordinarily resident in that constituency and was either,
	(a) a citizen of Ireland, or
	(b) a national of a Member State other than the State.
	(2) Part II of the Act of 1963 (apart from subsections (1) and (2) of section 5), as amended by section 1 of the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1966 , and section 4 of the Juries Act, 1976 , shall apply as regards the registration of Assembly electors pursuant to this section and the register referred to in section 6 (1) of the Act of 1963 shall, in so far as it relates to persons entitled to vote at Assembly elections, be the register of European Assembly electors.
	(3) For the purpose of giving effect to subsection (2) of this section each of the references in subsections (4), (5), (5A) (inserted by section 1 of the Electoral (Amendment) Act, 1966 ) or (6) of section 5 of the Act of 1963 to “the purposes of this section” shall be construed as including a reference to the purposes of this section.
	(4) In this section—
	“national of a Member State” has the meaning it has in the treaties;
	“the qualifying date” means the date specified by the Minister under section 5 (6) of the Act of 1963.
	Right to vote.	4.—Subject to Rule 47 of the First Schedule to this Act, every person whose name is on the register of European Assembly electors for the time being in force for a constituency, and no other person, shall be entitled to vote at the poll at an Assembly election in that constituency.
	Manner of voting.	5.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, a person who is entitled to vote at an Assembly election shall be entitled to vote in person only and at the polling station allotted to him or, in case he is authorised under Rule 36 of the First Schedule to this Act by a local returning officer, at the polling station specified in the authorisation.
	(2) Every Assembly elector whose name is, at the time of an Assembly election, in the postal voters list for a county or county borough contained in a constituency shall be entitled to vote in that constituency at the poll at such election by sending his ballot paper by post to the local returning officer for that county or county borough and shall not be entitled to vote in any other manner.
	Polling day and commencement of count.	6.—(1) The poll at an Assembly election shall—
	(a) be taken on such day as shall be appointed by the Minister by order (which order shall be made not less than thirty-five days before the day thereby appointed),
	(b) continue for such period, not being less than twelve hours, between the hours of 8.30 a.m. and 10.30 p.m. as may be fixed by the Minister by order, subject to the restriction that he shall fix the same period for all constituencies,
	and the day so appointed is in this Act referred to as “the polling day”.
	(2) The counting of the votes at an Assembly election shall begin on the day and at the time appointed by the Minister by order.
	(3) An order under this section shall be published in the Iris Oifigiúil as soon as may be after it is made.
	Qualification of candidates.	7.—(1) A person who is not eligible to become a member of Dáil Éireann shall not be eligible for election under this Act to the Assembly.
	(2) If while he is a representative in the Assembly by virtue of this Act a person becomes subject to any of the disqualifications applicable to membership of Dáil Éireann he shall thereupon cease to be a representative in the Assembly.
	Register of Political Parties.	8.—(1) The Registrar of Political Parties for the purposes of section 13 of the Act of 1963 (in this section subsequently referred to as “the Registrar”) shall, subject to the subsequent provisions of this section, register in the Register of Political Parties as a party organised to contest an Assembly election, any political party which applies to him for registration and which is, in his opinion, a genuine political party and organised in the State to contest such an election.
	(2) A party which was registered in the Register of Political Parties at the commencement of this Act and which either—
	(a) was registered pursuant to subsection (4) of section 13 of the Act of 1963, or
	(b) when registered was in the opinion of either the Registrar or the appeal board referred to in subsection (8) of the said section 13 organised to contest a Dáil election,
	shall, as soon as may be after such commencement, be registered in such Register by the Registrar as a party organised to contest an Assembly election.
	(3) Where a party which is registered pursuant to this section in the Register of Political Parties satisfies the Registrar that a member of the party who is a delegate or representative in the Assembly is a member of a political group formed in accordance with the rules of procedure of the Assembly, the Registrar shall note on the Register, in relation to the party, the name of the group.
	(4) Subsections (3), (5), (6) and (7) of section 13 of the Act of 1963 shall apply to registration under, or to political parties registered under, this section, as may be appropriate.
	(5) Subsection (10) of section 13 of the Act of 1963 shall apply in relation to the performance by the Registrar of his duties under this section as it applies in relation to the performance by him of his duties under that section.
	Nomination of candidates.	9.—(1) At an Assembly election a person may nominate himself as a candidate or may, with his consent, be nominated by another person (being a person registered as an Assembly elector in the constituency for which he proposes...