Question: When is a candidate for the Liberal Democrat Party not a candidate for the Liberal Democrats?
Answer: When he’s attempting to win a vacant parish council seat for the Bruche ward of Poulton-with-Fearnhead Parish Council in Warrington.
The local paper has the story, a nightmare familiar to election agents in all parties:
A CONTROVERSIAL by-election for a parish council seat will not go ahead after the Lib Dem party fluffed its paperwork.
Statements of intent to stand for the Bruche ward of Poulton-with-Fearnhead Parish Council had to be with the parish council clerk by noon on Friday.
But Lib Dem candidate Peter Edward’s paperwork was invalid making his application void.
Labour’s Ian Johnson, who was elected following May’s botched elections and then resigned in January following an independent report, will take up his seat on the parish council again.
Mr Edwards’ form was rejected for referring to him as ‘The Liberal Democrat Party candidate’, rather than ‘Liberal Democrat candidate’ as the council has on its books, he said, adding that he was ‘devastated’.
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Election agents take note!
The “description” box on the nomination form MUST be one of the party’s registered descriptions, currently:
Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol Cymru – Welsh Liberal Democrats
Focus Team
Liberal Democrat
Liberal Democrat Focus Team
Liberal Democrats – for a fairer Britain
Liberal Democrats – for a greener Britain
Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats
Scottish Liberal Democrat Focus Team
Scottish Liberal Democrats
Welsh Liberal Democrats
Welsh Liberal Democrats – Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol Cymru
and MUST match the description you provided on the DNO (Delegated Nominating Officer) form.
Using one of the party’s official DNO forms (available on the Extranet) allows you to tick one of the current registered descriptions, rather than write it in. That minimises then chance of any cock-ups.
It’s always advisable to put in your nomination forms a couple of days before the deadline and ask your Electoral Services department to check it as you hand it in. That way you have time to correct any unforseen errors without forfeiting your election.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!
Remember Harrow LB elections (a few years ago) for a real disaster! All our candidates were disqualified on these grounds.
PLEASE take Joe Taylors words to heart, agents…
All parties get it wrong from time to time. I have enjoyed fighting elections when the principle opponents have messed up.
My advice if this ever happens is to put out a focus so that people know you are still interested in them.
We are all human!
A classic example of how a poorly written law undermines democracy. SURELY nobody intended THIS sort to thing to happen.
Incidentally, before people rush to take Joe’s advice, can I check that (and I am willing to believe that this is the case, so stupid are the rules and so fallible are human beings) in England one has to put “Liberal Democrat” (note singular) but in Scotland or Wales one has to put “[Country] Liberal Democrats” (note plural)?
Ain’t democracy grand?!
Joe has – from what I can see copied and pasted the relevant descriptions from the EC website so yes it would seem we are singular in England and plural in Scotland or Wales.
You can use either the official name of the party OR one of its official descriptions. That’s one of the reasons why we so strongly encourage people to use the party’s DNO paperwork, as that lists all the options (relevant to whichever part of the UK you are in) which you can use. It’s quite easy otherwise to overlook that “or”.
Strange that the newspaper story talks about the statements of intent to stand having to be lodged with the parish council clerk. Surely it’s the district, county or unitary authority?
I must say that however certain we are, we ask for papers to be checked by the our unitary council elections office before we formally hand them in.
Alas, our council doesn’t allow “informal” checks. It makes for some nail-biting moments!
Paul: under the new standards for Returning Officers (see my earlier post) informal checks are one of the things they’ll have to do if they don’t want to get a lowly rating. So may be worth you drawing the staff’s attention to this in time for June’s elections.