| United Kingdom The Electoral Commission |
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| EC Logo | |
| Agency overview | |
| Formed | 2001 |
| Jurisdiction | United Kingdom |
| Headquarters | Trevelyan House, Great Peter Street, London |
| Employees | 156 (March 2009) |
| Annual budget | £23.5 million (estimate 2009–10) |
| Agency executives | Jenny Watson, Chair Peter Wardle, Chief Executive |
| Website | |
| http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/ | |
| United Kingdom |
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The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. It regulates party and election finance and sets standards for well-run elections. The Commission is independent of Government and answerable to Parliament.
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History
The Electoral Commission was created following a recommendation by the Fifth report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
The Commission’s mandate was set out in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act (PPERA) 2000, and ranges from the regulation of political donations and expenditure by political and third parties through to promoting greater participation in the electoral process.
The Electoral Administration Act 2006 made a number of improvements to electoral registration, improving the security arrangements for absent voting, allowing observers to attend elections and a major change in reducing the minimum age for candidates at UK Parliamentary elections. It also introduced the Performance Standards regime for electoral services.
The Political Parties and Elections Act 2009 granted the Electoral Commission a variety of new supervisory and investigatory powers. It fills significant gaps in the Commission’s current powers, the Act also provides a new range of flexible civil sanctions, both financial and non-financial are currently proposed to extend to regulated donees as well as political parties.
It also permitted the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration in Great Britain and made changes to the structure of the Electoral Commission, including allowing for the appointment of four new Electoral Commissioners who will be nominated by political parties.
Responsibilities and objectives
Integrity and transparency of party election finance
As the regulator of political party funding in the UK, the Commission’s role is to ensure the integrity and transparency of party and election finance.
The Commission provides guidance for political parties and regulated donees to assist them in meeting their legal obligations to follow party funding rules.
Political parties must submit annual statements of accounts, detailing income and expenditure, to the Electoral Commission. The Commission publishes these on its website.
Political parties and regulated donees are required to submit reports of all donations they receive to the Commission. The Commission maintains a publicly available register of these donations on its website.
At general elections to the UK Parliament, EU Parliament, Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Assembly political parties are required to submit campaign spending returns to the Electoral Commission.
The Commission may impose financial civil penalties on political parties and their accounting units if they fail to submit donation and loans returns, campaign spending return or statements of account.
The Commission also has the power to seek forfeiture of impermissible donations accepted by political parties.
Registering political parties
Complete and accurate electoral registers and a well run electoral registration process
The Commission produces guidance and gives advice on electoral registration to Electoral Registration Officers in Great Britain.
The Commission has published performance standards for electoral registration in Great Britain. Electoral Registration Officers are required to report against these standards and the Commission will make this information publicly available.
As part of this work, the Commission runs a series of public awareness campaigns ahead of elections and throughout the year to encourage people to register to vote.
These focus on audiences that research indicates are less likely to be on the electoral register, including recent homemovers, students and UK citizens living overseas.
Well-run elections and referendums which produce results that are acceptable
The Commission produces guidance and gives advice on electoral administration to Returning Officers and electoral administrators in Great Britain.
The Commission has set performance standards for Returning Officers and Referendum Counting Officers in Great Britain. These standards do not apply to local government elections in Scotland as they are a devolved matter.
The Commission has a statutory duty to produce reports on the administration of certain elections (for example UK Parliamentary General Elections) and may be asked to report on other types of election (such as local government elections).
Other responsibilities
EU seat distribution
The Commission is responsible for recommending which regions are allocated how many of the 72 seats that the United Kingdom holds at the European Parliament.
Referendum responsibilities
The Electoral Commission has a number of responsibilities in relation to referendums. These include:
- commenting on the wording of the referendum question (the government is responsible for proposing the wording)
- registration of campaigners
- designating lead campaign organisations and the making of grants
- monitoring referendum expenditure limits and donations
- certifying and announcing the result.
- As with other electoral events, the Electoral Commission has a statutory duty to prepare and publish a report on the administration of a relevant referendum and to give guidance and advice to administrators and campaigners.
- The Chair of the Commission, or someone appointed by the Chair, will also be appointed as Chief Counting Officer.
Organisation
Commissioners and Chief Executive
- Jenny Watson was appointed by the Speakers Committee in January 2009 as the second Chair of the Electoral Commission. Watson was previously Chair of the Equal Opportunities Commission.
•Max Caller is Chair of the Boundary Committee for England.
•Henrietta Campbell is the Commissioner with responsibility for Northern Ireland.
•Ian Kelsall is the Commissioner with responsibility for Wales.
•John McCormick is the Commissioner with responsibility for Scotland.
•Karamjit Singh is Commissioner with an interest in the English regions.
•Peter Wardle is the current Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission.
Devolved Offices
To reflect the views of stakeholders and the distinctive procedures and practices across the UK, the Electoral Commission has offices in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Regional Offices
Since February 2007 the Commission has also had regional offices across England in the South West, Eastern and South East, London, Midlands, and North of England regions.
Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission
The Electoral Commission is answerable to Parliament via the Speaker’s Committee (established by PPERA 2000). The Commission must submit an annual estimate of income and expenditure to the Committee. The Committee is responsible for answering Parliamentary Questions on behalf of the Commission. The current chair of the Speaker’s Committee is Gary Streeter MP. [1]
Parliamentary Parties Panels (PPP)
The PPP is composed of representatives from all UK parliamentary political parties with two or more sitting MPs. The PPP was established by PPERA and meets quarterly to submit views to the Commission on matters affecting political parties.
There are equivalent non-statutory bodies for the devolved legislatures in Scotland (Scottish Parliament Political Parties Panel), Wales (Wales Political Parties Panel) and Northern Ireland (Northern Ireland Assembly Parties Panel).
Publications
The Commission conducts a wide variety of research into electoral administration, electoral registration and the integrity and transparency of party finance, and a variety of guidance materials for political parties, regulated donees and electoral administrators.
Websites
The Electoral Commission’s corporate website contains downloadable copies of all Commission publications. It also contains the registers relating to the registration of political parties and third parties, donations and loans to political parties and regulated donees and of statements of account of political parties and their accounting units that the Commission is required to maintain by law.
Do politics part of the Commission’s corporate website and is an idea and resources hub for democracy practitioners, from schools and youth groups, to electoral officials and political parties. The website contains a variety of ideas and activities to encourage people to get engaged in politics, and opportunities to download or order hard copies of a wide range of resources.
About My Vote provides people with the information they need to register to vote. Users can print off a registration form, as well as an application form to vote by post or proxy and find the details of the Electoral Registration Officer that they need to send the form to. There is also information for specific audiences, such as overseas voters, students and members of the armed forces, and an animated walkthrough of a polling station.
See also
External links
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