Guidelines for the European Parliament Elections 2009

B. Assignments by candidates to a political party

3.5 Where a candidate is contesting the election on behalf of a political party, he/she may assign a portion of his/her statutory spending limit to the party for spending at the election by its national agent.

3.6 There is no obligation on a candidate under the legislation to assign any portion of his or her spending limit to the party. If all of a party's candidates at the election refused to assign any of their spending limit to the party, the national agent would not be allowed to incur any expenditure at the election, except as a person authorised to do so by a candidate's election agent. However, it is likely that parties will come to some arrangement in this regard with candidates. The only spending by a party which is allowed is the sum of the amounts which have been assigned to the party by its candidates from within the candidates' individual limit.

Example: If a political party has 4 candidates contesting the election each of whom assign €100,000 to the party from within their individual spending limit, the national agent of the party would be entitled to spend a total of €400,000 at the election. The amount of the limit available to be spent by each candidate's election agent would, as a result, be reduced by €100,000.

3.7 The Act is not specific as to when the agreed assignments should be made to the party. The Act does not preclude a re-negotiation of agreed assignments. The Standards Commission recommends that national agents ensure that assignments are agreed with each candidate before any expenses are incurred by either the national agent or the candidate's election agent.

3.8 The Act requires that the assignment to the party must be agreed in writing. The written agreement, therefore, should clearly state the amount assigned to the party. It should be signed by both the candidate and an appropriate party official. Where assignments are subsequently re-negotiated, a new written agreement must be drawn up.

3.9 The candidate will be required to give his/her election agent a copy of the written agreement for furnishing to the Standards Commission with the election agent's Election Expenses Statement. National agents will not be required to furnish copies of the written agreements with their Election Expenses Statements. National agents should, however, retain copies of the written agreements.

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