Annual Report 2008

Proposed amendments to the Electoral Acts

The Standards Commission published a review of the Electoral Acts in December 2003 and suggested a range of amendments at that time. These included:

1. As the body with responsibility for supervising the Electoral Acts, the Standards Commission should have a statutory basis on which to review the legislation and report on its findings.
2. Certain sections of the Act need to be amended to take account of the fact that members of local authorities and candidates at local elections have their own reporting requirements under the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act 1999, as amended.
3. Provision for offences and penalties for failure to comply generally with the provisions of Parts IV, V and VI of the 1997 Act - these parts relate to disclosure of donations, expenditure by candidates and political parties at Dáil and European Parliament elections, and donations and election expenses at presidential elections, respectively.
4. Provision for an offence and penalty for failing to comply with a request from the Standards Commission (under section 4(4) of the 1997 Act) to provide information or documentation.
5. The definition of a "financial institution" for the purposes of opening political donations accounts should be amended to include credit unions.
6. Provision for the disposal of surplus donations in situations where a person is no longer required to maintain a political donations account and there are funds remaining in the account which have not been used.
7. Consideration should be given to imposing some accountability, in the context of the spending limits, in respect of a specified period prior to commencement of the legally defined election period (i.e. that the election period might be extended to include a period prior to the dissolution of the Dáil or moving of the writ at an election).
8. The definition of "minor expenses" should be limited to €126.97 per candidate per election.
9. Provide that a candidate (or other person) shall be guilty of an offence if, at any time before, during or after the election he/she fails to provide the necessary information to an election agent or national agent for the purposes of facilitating the completion of the agent's Election Expenses Statement. Provide a penalty for this offence.
10. The definition of what constitutes a "third party" should not be determined on the basis of whether an individual/group has received a donation but should focus on spending by individuals/groups and to regard them as third parties if they intend to incur expenditure over a certain threshold, say €5,000, in relation to a campaign which is for political purposes as defined in the legislation.
11. The registration process for "third parties" and for "other persons" (who intend to incur election expenses) should be amalgamated. (There should be no need for a individual/group to register as a "third party" and to also register as an "other person".)
12. The legislation suggests that once an individual/group has registered as a third party, it is required to furnish documentation to the Standards Commission on an annual basis even though it is no longer active for political purposes. The approach taken by the Standards Commission in this matter has been to ask third parties to confirm whether or not they intend to continue in existence. If they do not, there will be no further contact made with them. This situation might be addressed and clarified.
13. Consideration should be given to imposing a limit on the amount of expenditure which may be incurred by a "third party"/"other person" at an election. For example if a "third party"/"other person" is opposing a particular candidate at an election the amount of expenditure which can be incurred by the "third party"/"other person" should not exceed the statutory spending limit applicable to that candidate.

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