Elections: Petitions

Deputy Prime Minister written question – answered at on 25 February 2013.

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Photo of Angie Bray Angie Bray Conservative, Ealing Central and Acton

To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many election petitions have been filed in the last 30 years; and what the reasons for the filing of each was.

Photo of Helen Grant Helen Grant The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Women and Equalities

I have been asked to reply on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

In the last 30 years, a total of 135 election petitions were filed in the Election Court. This figure consists of 118 Local Government Petitions and 17 Parliamentary petitions.

It has not been possible to obtain the reasons for each of the 135 petitions filed over the whole of the period in question. The court files for the years prior to 2005 are no longer available and the Election Court ledgers for Parliamentary and Local Government election petitions which might hold the information are not held in a collated format. However, I can confirm that available records from 2005 to 2013 indicate that election petitions are filed for various reasons ranging from Local Government election petitions alleging discrepancies with postal votes and corrupt illegal practice; to Parliamentary election petition for non-compliance with the provisions of the European Conventions on Human Rights and misreporting of a candidate’s allegiance and funding.

Of the various reasons, petitions challenging the way votes are counted in an election seem to be more prevalent, having occurred approximately eight times over the last eight years. This reason is closely followed by petitions disputing postal votes in which accusations of tampering and impersonation were made. The latter petitions have declined in recent years following the implementation of new postal voting security measures in 2007. More recently provisions have been brought forward in the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 to allow a Returning Officer’s fee to be reduced or withheld in the event of poor performance, which could be applied to poor management of a count where the wrong candidate is returned.

I am placing a copy of a spreadsheet detailing the grounds for election petitions since 2005, in the House Library.

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