Political parties authorise candidates to stand for them by issuing a certificate of authorisation. This must state that the named candidate can stand on their behalf and allows them to use the party name as registered with the Commission or one of the variants set out in the list below.1
A certificate may authorise:
the exact party name as registered with the Commission
the party name as registered with the Commission with the word 'Scottish' added to the beginning of the party name
if the party name registered starts with the word 'The', the word 'Scottish' can be inserted after the word 'The' on the nomination form
the exact party name of two different parties as registered with the Commission
the exact party name of two different parties as registered with the Commission, separated by the word 'and' between the names of both parties
the party names of two different parties as registered with the Commission separated or not, as the case may be, by the word 'and' with the word 'Scottish' added to the beginning of either or both of those party names
Particular care should be taken by the Nominating Officer (or someone authorised to act on their behalf) when completing the certificate of authorisation. If the certificate explicitly authorises a particular party name/description and this does not match the name/description on the nomination paper, the whole nomination will be invalid.2
If you are standing on behalf of more than one political party, you will need a certificate of authorisation from the Nominating Officer of each of the registered parties (or people authorised to act on their behalf) by the deadline for the delivery of nomination papers.
It is for you to decide the order in which the party names appear.
The certificate of authorisation must be signed by the registered Nominating Officer of the political party or by someone authorised by the Nominating Officer to act on their behalf, and be received by the Constituency Returning Officer (CRO) by the nominations deadline, by 4pm, 23 working days before the poll.3
The certificate of authorisation is prescribed. We have produced a set of nomination papers that you could use which includes the certificate of authorisation. Alternatively, you can obtain nomination papers from the CRO. Contact details can be obtained from our website.