05 Oct 2007
The recent by-election in Tony Blair's former seat of Sedgefield was well run despite a short timescale and major changes to electoral legislation, according to a report released today by the Electoral Commission
Although electoral administrators in Sedgefield knew in advance that Tony Blair would be standing down as Prime Minister and likely to resign his seat, they still had only 15 working days between the formal announcement of his resignation and polling day.
In its report on the by-election, which also looks at the by-election in Ealing Southall which took place on the same day, the Commission repeats its recommendation that the time-table for Parliamentary by-elections should be standardised at 25 working days.
Andrew Scallan, Director of Electoral Administration at the Electoral Commission, said:
"Electoral administrators were faced with difficult planning problems due to the tight timescale following Tony Blair's resignation. Despite this the election was successfully delivered."
The Acting Returning Officer checked 100 per cent of postal votes against personal identifiers collected from electors previously (date of birth and signature). The minimum requirement is 20 per cent but the Commission recommends 100 per cent checking to ensure the best level of security.
The Sedgefield constituency is made up of parts of three district council areas and different types of software are used by the councils to record and store personal identifiers. The Acting Returning Officer put in place effective arrangements to deal with this but there could have been difficulties with the compatibility of the different software. In the report, the Commission repeats the call it made after the May 2007 elections in England and Wales, that the Government to establish standardised specifications for such software.
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Notes to editors
- The Electoral Commission is an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. Our aim is integrity and public confidence in the UKs democratic process. We regulate party and election finance and set standards for well-run elections.
- The report The Ealing Southall and Sedgefield by-elections: Report on the administration of the 19 July 2007 by-elections is available in full online at www.electoralcommission.org.uk.
- In publishing the report the Commission was exercising new powers given to it by the Electoral Administration Act 2006 to report on the administration of by-elections at its own discretion. Previously, the Commission could only report on the administration of by-elections when asked to by the Secretary of State.
