Because of the responsibilities attached to the role of an election agent you should consider carefully who you are going to appoint and make sure that they understand their obligations. You can be your own agent if you wish.
You must declare in writing the name, address and office address of your election agent to the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland by 4pm, 19 working days before the poll.1
The declaration should be signed by you and by the agent to show their acceptance of the appointment.
It is helpful to also provide a contact telephone number and email address for your election agent so that the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland can easily contact them.
The Electoral Office for Northern Ireland will provide a declaration form and it will be available on their website. If you do not appoint someone else as your agent by the deadline, you will automatically become your own agent.2
The office address declared to the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland must be an address to which any legal notices can be delivered and therefore must be a physical address – PO boxes or similar mailboxes cannot be used.
within the parliamentary constituency where you are standing, or
within a constituency which adjoins the constituency where you are standing
The agent's office address will often be their home address, but it could be an office set up for the election.
If you act as your own election agent, the office address is deemed to be the address you provided on your home address form.4
If that address is outside the permitted area, the office address is deemed to be the address of your proposer (i.e. the first subscriber on your nomination form).