The Electoral Commission have been in touch to let us know about their consultation on the processes involved in standing for elections. Text of the email follows – feel free to take part and let them know your views.
Email:
Electoral Commission – Standing for election consultation
Today the Electoral Commission has launched a consultation to gather views on the system and processes involved in standing for election in the United Kingdom. We are seeking comments on a number of issues across different types of elections, including the size of deposits required, access to election broadcasts, and the rules around disqualifications.
The Commission has a duty to review the legal framework for elections, and it has been a decade since our last review in this area. Since then, new elections such as those for Police and Crime Commissioners have been introduced, whilst elections that were relatively new at the time of our last review, such as those to the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly, are now well established. It is therefore the right time for us to look again at the system and consider what changes may be needed.
The intention of this consultation is to prompt debate on how the electoral system can be streamlined, improved and better regulated from the perspective of those seeking elected office. In particular, we are keen to see how the rules can be changed to improve participation from candidates while maintaining public trust and confidence in the conduct of elections
We have aimed to highlight those areas where we feel there may be inconsistencies or inefficiencies, but we also invite views on areas that we may have overlooked. We’d like to hear any options for change that people may have.
We welcome views from all involved in the system including those that have stood as a candidate, or were deterred from standing because of the existing rules, the agents and parties that support them and the electors that vote for them. We would also welcome views from those responsible for running elections. The consultation will run until Wednesday 18 December. Once we have considered the responses we receive, we will report to the relevant Governments in the UK setting out any recommendations for change that we have identified which fall within their remit.
The consultation paper sets out in detail how you can respond and is available online here
The key questions we are consulting on are also available separately as an online survey, which you can access here