Wexford): The purpose of this Bill is to consolidate, with amendments, the law relating to the election of the President. The Bill deals comprehensively with all aspects of presidential elections from the nomination of candidates through the taking of the poll, and the counting of votes to election petitions. The Bill continues the programme of electoral law reform commenced last year with the enactment of the Electoral Act, 1992. The objective of the programme is to update and improve the entire electoral law.
The 1992 Act, which amended and consolidated the law relating to Dáil elections, represented the first substantial step in this programme. The present Bill continues the process and, as envisaged in the Programme for a Partnership Government, it is intended to follow up, in due course, with similar measures dealing with referenda and the other branches of the electoral law.
The Constitution lays down the fundamental principles relating to the election of the President. It deals with the right to vote, the qualification of candidates, the right to nominate, the electoral system, the time frame for holding an election and the term of office of the President. The detailed regulations governing the election are provided for in ordinary legislation. At present, the law relating to the election of the President is contained in the Presidential Elections Acts, 1937 to 1992. The principal Act, which is the Act of 1937, has been extensively amended by the Electoral Act, 1963, and, to a lesser extent, by later enactments. The law is rather fragmented and the conduct of a presidential election requires reference to six separate statutes. In addition, there are certain technical defects in the law which could give rise to difficulty in particular circumstances. The Bill makes good these defects, provides for a more streamlined and efficient procedure for the conduct of the count, introduces a procedure for reviewing the result of a presidential election and provides for the consolidation of the law.
The most obvious change proposed by the Bill is the elimination of the central count. Under existing law, the first count is carried out in each Dáil constituency by the local returning officer and the first count result for each constituency is announced locally. The ballot papers are then parcelled up and sent to the presidential returning officer who is required, by law, to count the votes and ascertain and declare the result of the election.
With the exception of the 1945 and 1990 elections, the result of every presidential election was decided on the first count. However, under existing law, candidates and the country at large, have to wait while ballot papers are transmitted to the presidential returning officer, who goes through what seems to be a superfluous and time consuming counting process, before the result can be formally declared. There is, in fact, no necessity for a central count, even in cases where it is necessary to eliminate one or more candidates.
The Bill provides for the conduct of the entire count at constituency level. The result of the first count will be reported to the presidential returning officer, who will then calculate the quota and declare elected any candidate who reaches the quota on the first count. If no candidate reaches the quota, the presidential returning officer will direct each local returning officer to exclude the candidate with the lowest overall total of votes and to transfer the papers of the excluded candidate. This operation will be carried out at constituency level and the results reported to the presidential returning officer. Where necessary, the exclusion of candidates will continue on this basis until one candidate can be declared elected.
Candidates and their agents will have the right to attend at, and supervise, proceedings at the count in each constituency and also at the central ascertainment of the result. As at present, candidates will have the right to demand a complete recount of the ballot papers.
As an indication of the time factor involved, the result of 1990 presidential election was not declared until nearly 48 hours after the close of poll. Under the arrangement provided for in the Bill, it should be possible to have the count completed in a single day even where the elimination of a number of candidates may be involved.
The apparent defects in the present law to which I referred earlier relate to the nomination of candidates and related procedures. Under existing law, if a Member of the Oireachtas signs more than one nomination paper all papers signed by him, except the first received by the presidential returning officer, must be disregarded. This could lead to a situation which was clearly not intended. For example, if a Member were to sign a nomination paper which has fewer than 19 other signatures and subsequently join in an otherwise valid nomination with 20 or more members, the later nomination must be disregarded entirely while the original nomination paper would be ineffective due to the absence of a sufficient number of signatures.
The Bill provides that where an Oireachtas Member signs a nomination paper in respect of more than one person his or her signature on the nomination paper first received by the presidential returning officer will be regarded as valid. The signature of the member on any subsequent nomination will be disregarded without prejudice to the signatures of any other Oireachtas Members on that nomination paper.
Under existing law a candidate may only withdraw during the ruling on nominations or on a later day appointed for withdrawals. In other words, he or she may withdraw only when it is too late for the proposers to consider a new nomination. The Bill provides for a change to this. Henceforth candidate will be allowed to withdraw at any time up to the completion of the ruling on nominations and it will be open to the proposers to nominate another candidate within the remaining time allowed for nominations.
The existing law providing for procedures in the event of the death of a candidate is incomplete. At present if a candidate dies after the election has been adjourned for the purpose of taking a poll the election is commenced afresh with a new period for nominations. However no provision is made relating to the death of a candidate when it occurs just after the close of nominations or so shortly before such close there is not sufficient time to nominate a replacement candidate. To cover this the Bill provides that where a candidate dies more than five days before the close of nominations the election will continue and the proposers of the deceased person will be free to nominate another candidate. If a candidate dies during the five days preceding the close of nominations or after the close of nominations, a fresh election will be held with a new period for nominations.
The law relating to the ruling on nominations provides for a judicial assessor, who is the President of the High Court or another judge of that court, and for a tribunal, consisting of three judges of the High Court, to rule on any objections. The respective roles of returning officer, judicial assessor and tribunal are not clear. Accordingly the Bill clarifies the position. The function of the judicial assessor will be to furnish his opinion on any matter referred to him and the provision for a special tribunal is repealed. However, a candidate or his authorised representative will still be entitled to object to the ruling on the validity of a nomination or in relation to the qualification of a candidate and the objection will be heard by the High Court.
Under existing presidential election law an elector who is unable to vote at his or her normal polling station due to employment by the local returning officer may be authorised to vote at another polling station in the same constituency. The Bill will remove the provision restricting the exercise of this facility to the constituency for which the elector is registered. At a presidential election the same ballot paper is used in each constituency throughout the State. There is, therefore, no compelling reason an elector at a presidential election, registered in one constituency, should not be authorised to vote in the constituency in which he or she is employed by the local returning officer. The Bill provides accordingly.
Unlike the other electoral codes, no statutory procedure is provided in existing law for questioning the result of a presidential election. It would seem appropriate to lay down a specific statutory procedure for dealing with any possible challenge, as is done in other electoral codes. The Bill, therefore, provides for a petition procedure based on and applying, with appropriate modifications, the Dáil petition procedure contained in the Electoral Act, 1992.
In addition to amending the law as I have outlined, this Bill consolidates the presidential elections code using the Electoral Act, 1992, as a model. It applies, with appropriate modifications, the procedures in the 1992 Act which are common to elections generally, including procedures relating to postal voting, voting by disabled electors, polling on islands, taking the poll in polling stations, arrangements for counting of votes and the retention and disposal of election documents.
This Bill provides a suitable opportunity to remove deficiencies in existing presidential elections law to include desirable procedures currently omitted and to improve procedures in the conduct of a presidential election. I am sure the House will agree that in view of the status of the office of President it is desirable that the law in relation to the election to that office should be comprehensive, watertight and up to date. I believe this Bill provides such a law.