Tag Archives: election law

ALDC

ALDC launches its Election Law Helpline

By ALDC | Thu 1st March 2018 - 5:58 pm

It is vital that everyone in the Liberal Democrats stays on the right side of the law throughout the forthcoming election campaigns, and ALDC are on hand to help you do this through our Election Law Helpline – launching on Thursday 1 March 2018.

The team at ALDC are providing free election law advice to campaigners in England for their forthcoming local elections, regardless of whether you are a member of ALDC.

They can provide practical issues around election law – nominations, DNOs, imprints, expenses, etc. as well as detailed queries about election …

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Posted in Campaign Corner and Election law | Also tagged and | Leave a comment
The Voice

Alistair Carmichael election petition: new hearing ordered by judges

By The Voice | Tue 29th September 2015 - 6:35 pm

The judges who heard Alistair Carmichael’s application to dismiss the election petition against him delivered a partial judgement today and ordered that a further hearing take place. From the BBC website:

The judges have ruled that the language used in section 106 was “wide enough to encompass a statement made by a candidate about himself”.

However, they said they wanted to hear evidence about the two remaining issues before issuing a determination on the case.

These are whether the words were false statements of fact which related to Mr Carmichael’s personal character or conduct, and whether they were said “for the purpose of affecting the return of any candidate at the election”.

The judges said they wanted to hear evidence on these issues because each case had to be considered on its own facts.

You can read the entire judgement here.

Commenting on today’s news, a Scottish Liberal Democrat spokesperson said:

Alistair Carmichael will continue to play a full role in the new stages of the legal process that are ongoing, confident of a positive outcome. Alistair’s focus will remain working hard for his constituents and doing his job as MP for Orkney and Shetland.

Alistair will need even more help to pay the exorbitant legal fees. If you want to see a good man have a fair fight against well-funded opponents, you can donate to the fund-raising site started by his old friend Sheila Ritchie here.

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Posted in News | Also tagged | 11 Comments
Anthony Fairclough

The Independent View: Countdown to the Election

By Anthony Fairclough | Mon 30th March 2015 - 9:08 am

Lib Dem Voice has received this article from Matrix Chambers, a law firm that specialises in election law. It offers the opportunity to sign up for weekly briefings during the election period.

It’s trite to say, but we are just weeks away from the most important General Election in a generation – especially for those interested in election law. The culture of fighting elections – and the public’s role within that – has changed in recent years owing to new technology. There is now also new (and untested) legislation restricting the actions of professional third party campaigners.

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Posted in The Independent View | Also tagged | 2 Comments
The Voice

So what’s Miranda Grell, formerly convicted of homophobic smears on her Liberal Democrat opponent, up to these days?

By The Voice | Wed 25th February 2015 - 10:25 am

Way back in 2006, Miranda Grell was elected as a Labour Councillor in Waltham Forest, East London. The following year, she was convicted of making false statements about the Liberal Democrat candidate. From the BBC:

Waltham Forest Magistrates’ Court heard in police interviews Grell admitted she had discussed the candidates’s sexuality with one local resident.

She said she told the man the Lib Dem claimed to be married despite having a 19-year-old Thai boyfriend.

Grell put the mistake down to political immaturity and inexperience at campaigning.

But another resident, Caroline Dargan, told the court Grell had a similar conversation with her.

Outside court Ms Dargan told BBC London: “(Grell) just started to talk about the Lib Dem candidate. She made some suggestions about him being gay, and I sort of knew that.

“But then I felt the conversation deteriorated into her saying that he was actually interested in young oriental boys.”

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Posted in News | Also tagged and | 11 Comments
Paul Tyler

Lord Paul Tyler writes…Never on a Sunday?

By Paul Tyler | Fri 21st June 2013 - 12:59 pm

Some little Englander MPs, as we know, are incredibly jumpy about anything they think might have come from Europe.  The latest in the line of Brussels bogeymen is the worrying advent of public activity at the weekend, which could – they say – cause all kinds of terrible problems.

The British Social Attitudes survey (not the dangerous ‘Eurobarometer’) has found that 45.7% of the public regard themselves as belonging to ‘no religion’.  Of those who do profess some faith, 57.5% say they ‘never or practically never’ attend meetings or services connected to their religion.  A further 20% say they do …

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Posted in Op-eds | Also tagged , and | 6 Comments
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