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A
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Bill
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To
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Make
provision about the date of the poll for the election of the next Northern
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Ireland Assembly, and for disregarding
certain days for the purposes of the
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period after a poll within which an
Assembly must meet; and for connected
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purposes.
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Be
it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and
with the advice and
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consent of the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal, and Commons, in this present
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Parliament assembled, and by the authority
of the same, as follows:—
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1 Dates
of election, etc
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(1) The
Northern Ireland (Date of Next Assembly Poll) Order 2001 (SI 2001/3959)
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is revoked.
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(2) In
section 31 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 (c. 47) (“the 1998
Act”), which
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provides for dates of Assembly elections
and dissolutions, etc—
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5
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(a) for
subsection (2) there is substituted—
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“(2) The
date of the poll for the election of the Assembly next
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following
the Assembly elected under section 2 of the Northern
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Ireland
(Elections) Act 1998 shall be 29th May 2003; and the
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Assembly
elected under that section shall be dissolved on 28th
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10
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April
2003.”,
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(b) in
subsection (3), “or (2)” is omitted,
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(c) in
subsection (5), at the end there is added “, as shall any day on
which
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section 1 of the Northern Ireland Act
2000 is in force”.
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(3) Subsections
(4) to (6) apply in relation to the ordinary general election the poll
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for which is to be held on 29th May
2003.
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(4) Paragraph
7 of each of Schedules 9 and 10 to the Political Parties, Elections and
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Referendums Act 2000 (c. 41) (which
provide for limits on campaign
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expenditure and controlled expenditure
respectively in relation to Assembly
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elections) is to have effect as if
“the relevant period” for the purposes of that
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20
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paragraph were the period beginning
four months before 29th May 2003 and
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ending on that date (and sub-paragraphs
(3) and (4) of that paragraph are not
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to apply).
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(5) In
calculating campaign expenditure or controlled expenditure incurred in
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relevant period (as provided for in
subsection (4)), any such expenditure
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incurred in connection with the extraordinary
general election provided for by
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the Order revoked by subsection (1)
is to count towards the total, but only if it
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was incurred during that relevant period.
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(6) The
entry for Rule 1 of the Parliamentary Elections Rules (timetable) in
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Schedule 1 to the Northern Ireland
Assembly (Elections) Order 2001 (SI 2001/
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2599) (which provides for the application
with modifications to Assembly
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elections of provisions of the Representation
of the People Act 1983 (c. 2) and
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other Acts) is to have effect as if
the first entry in the second column of the
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substituted Timetable (which relates
to publication of notice of an election)
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read “Not later than the 20th
day before the date of the poll.”.
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(7) Subsection
(1) does not revive any duty of the Secretary of State under section
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32 of the 1998 Act (which provides
for extraordinary elections) which he has
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already discharged.
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(8) In
this section, “Assembly” means Northern Ireland Assembly.
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2 Short
title
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This Act may be cited as the Northern Ireland
Assembly Elections Act 2003.
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