If requested, a constituency candidate of a party can choose to have a registered emblem of the party they are representing displayed on the ballot paper. To qualify, a candidate must have been authorised to use a party name.1
Where a constituency candidate is standing on behalf of two registered parties and has been authorised to use the names of both parties, they may choose to use a registered emblem of one of the parties. There are no provisions for joint emblems to be registered with the Commission.
A regional party list may be accompanied by a request to have one of the party’s registered emblems displayed on the ballot paper.2
The Nominating Officer (or someone authorised on their behalf) must make the request in writing to the RRO by not later than the deadline for delivery of nominations.
If a party has more than one registered emblem, any request for an emblem should specify which one to use. If the emblem is not specified, or the registered party changes or removes the emblem from the register of political parties after the nomination papers have been submitted but before the close of nominations, you should try to contact the candidate or the Nominating Officer (or the person acting on their behalf) as appropriate and ask them to select one. You should also tell them that if they do not select a particular emblem before the close of nominations, you will not be able to print an emblem against their name or the party’s name (as appropriate) on the ballot paper.
The candidate or Nominating Officer (or someone authorised to act on their behalf) may provide a high-resolution copy of the emblem for use in the printing of ballot papers, or the candidate/party may request that you download the emblem from our website. You must ensure that whatever copy is used is in the same form as the registered emblem.
The maximum size of an emblem on the ballot paper is set by the directions for printing. When adding a party emblem to a ballot paper, the shape of the emblem should not be altered. For example, do not stretch emblems into square shapes if they are not registered as square images on our website, as this would have the effect of altering their appearance.
A Zip file of emblem images will be available on our website. However, while the Zip file is a tool that can be used by your printer to prepare ballot papers, it is the information on the Commission’s register of political parties that should be used for confirming which emblem to print on the ballot papers.