The UK’s 'out-of-date' electoral law needs to be replaced with a new, modern and rational legal framework to govern the conduct of elections, according to the three Law Commissions of the UK.
In an interim report published today, the Law Commissions of England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland recommended the Government rationalise the laws governing elections into a single, consistent legislative framework governing all elections and referendums.
Electoral law in this country is very complex and fragmented — divided across 17 major statutes and some 30 sets of regulations. With the turn of the century, an increase in the numbers and types of election only added to this complexity.
Simplifying and modernising the laws dealing with elections would make them, in the words of Nicholas Paines QC, law commissioner for public law, ‘more easily understood and used by administrators and candidates’.
Many of these laws, according to the interim report, are Victorian in origin.
The commission suggests, more specifically, that the process for challenging elections should be made easier for parties to understand and use, and that judges be given the power to limit the potential costs for challengers.
The interim report also recommends that existing electoral offences be clarified, and that the maximum sentence for serious electoral offences be increased to 10 years.
Nicholas Paines QC, who is leading the project for the Law Commission of England and Wales, said: ‘Elections are fundamental to democracy. They are the mechanism by which citizens exercise their democratic rights. The price we pay as a democracy when the electoral process loses credibility is high and potentially catastrophic.
‘Electoral law must be simplified, modernised and rationalised so that it can be more easily understood and used by administrators and candidates, and the public can have more certainty as to their rights.
‘The law must be set out in such a way that policy development by Government, once properly scrutinised by Parliament, can be achieved by one legislative change, rather than a dozen spread out across several years.’
‘We are pleased to make these recommendations for reform and are hopeful that this opportunity to make electoral law more principled and efficient will be taken forward,’ he added.
Lord Pentland, chairman of the Scottish Law Commission, said: ‘Inconsistencies and ambiguities risk undermining the credibility of our electoral process. It has become essential for electoral law throughout the UK to be streamlined and put into a modern, accessible and user-friendly format that is fit for the 21st century.’
The Hon Mr Justice Maguire, chairman of the Northern Ireland Law Commission, said: ‘The laws governing elections in Northern Ireland suffer equally from being spread out across different statutes and secondary legislation. In some cases older instruments are difficult for the public, or even legal professionals, to access.
‘We are very pleased to recommend that the laws governing elections in Northern Ireland should be set out within a single and consistent legal framework and look forward to hearing the UK government's response.’
