Standing as a candidate at an election

At general election time there is interest and sometimes confusion about issues such as who can stand for election, how candidates are nominated, whether a deposit is necessary and what limits there are on campaign spending. Any man or woman, who is a British citizen, or a citizen of another Commonwealth country may stand as a candidate at an election whether or not he or she belongs to a political party. He or she must be aged 21 or over and not disqualified in any way.

Those disqualified from election are the following:

§ members of the House of Lords including those bishops who are Lords Spirituals undercharged bankrupts;

§ people sentenced to more than one year’s imprisonment;

§ persons convicted of illegal or corrupt practices at elections;

§ people holding offices listed in the House of Commons Disqualification Act 1975. This includes judges, civil servants, some local government officers, members of the regular armed forces, some members of public corporations and government commissions, and members of the parliaments or assemblies of countries outside the Commonwealth or the Republic of Ireland.

§ ‘idiots’ and ‘lunatics’ (in their non-lucid periods) as legally defined.

All candidates must pay a £500 deposit which is lost if they do not secure 5% of the total number of votes in their constituency and is set at this level to discourage large numbers of frivolous candidates from standing.

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Дата добавления: 2015-07-20