Guidance for Returning Officers administering a Senedd election

You must publish the statement of parties and persons nominated by no later than 4pm, 18 working days before the poll.1
  
You must publish it online and in any other ways you consider appropriate.2
  
The statement must also be printed in conspicuous characters and exhibited inside and outside every polling station.3
   
The EMB must also publish the statement of parties and persons nominated on the elections information platform, they will provide information on the data and format required.
 
You should have robust proof-checking processes in place to ensure that there are no errors on the statement of parties and persons nominated.

Contents of the statement of parties and persons nominated

The statement of parties and persons nominated must include:4

• the notice of poll5  
• each registered party together with the list of party candidates who are validly nominated
• each individual candidate who is validly nominated
• the full name of each party list or individual candidate or their commonly used name(s) if they have given one
• the home addresses of all party list or individual candidates, or if they have requested not to make their home address public the relevant area which is:
  • the name of the Senedd constituency if the home address is in Wales
  • the name of the UK Parliamentary constituency if the home address is elsewhere in the UK
  • the country if their home address is situated outside the UK
• the information contained in each candidates’ statement of membership of political parties, as given on their consent to nomination
• the description Independent and/or Annibynnol (if applicable) of any individual candidates
• any registered parties or individual including any party list candidates who no longer stand nominated, if any (i.e. invalid and withdrawn candidates or parties), with the reason why they are no longer standing  

Your privacy notice should make clear that you are required under electoral legislation to publish a party list and individual candidate’s name in the statement of parties and persons nominated. For more information about the data protection considerations of a privacy notice see our guidance on data protection.

Ordering of names on the statement of parties and persons nominated

The names of the political parties on the statement must be listed in alphabetical order followed by the names of the individual candidates who must be listed in alphabetical order of their surname.6 This is also how they will appear on the ballot paper.7
  
Immediately after each party the names of each candidate on that party’s list must be listed on the statement in the order they appear on the party list.8
 
If there are two or more individual candidates with the same surname, the alphabetical order of the other names will decide which candidate is listed first.9
  
If a candidate on a party list or an individual candidate has requested the use of a commonly used name, the commonly used name must be shown on the statement instead of the actual name.10
 
Where an individual candidate has requested the use of a commonly used surname, the candidate’s alphabetical position on the statement of parties and other persons nominated and on the ballot paper must be made by reference to their commonly used surname.11
 
If, however, you have rejected the use of any commonly used name as you think it is likely to mislead or confuse electors, or is obscene or offensive, the actual name must be published on the statement instead of the commonly used name.12
 
You must send the Commission a copy of the statement of parties and persons nominated.13 The copy should be emailed to [email protected].

Considerations where a candidate has asked for their home address not to be published

You must consider whether two or more of the names shown on the statement of parties and persons nominated are the same or so similar that it is likely to cause confusion.14
 
Where you decide that this is the case and:

• each person has asked for their home address not be made public and
• the relevant area given is also the same

You may make amendments or additions to the person’s information to be shown on the statement of parties and persons nominated, if you think it appropriate to reduce the likelihood of confusion.15
  
You must have regard to this guidance for this purpose.16
 
You must consult any candidates affected before the publication of the statement if it is practicable to do so.17
  
You must give notice to any person whose information has been amended or added, setting out the changes you have made.18
  
You can find a template statement of parties and persons nominated in the nominations section of our resource page.

You should have robust proof-checking processes in place to ensure that there are no errors on the statement of parties and persons nominated. For more information about proof checking see our quality assurance guidance.

Return of deposit

You must return the deposit of any registered party or individual candidate not shown as standing nominated in the statement of parties and persons nominated.19 The deposit must be returned as soon as practicable after the statement of parties and persons nominated has been published or after the candidate’s death (as appropriate).20
 
If a party list is included on the statement of persons nominated but one or more of the candidates on the list submitted by the party are not shown as standing nominated in the statement of parties and persons nominated, the return of the deposit will depend on the number of candidates remaining on the party list. If there are less than six candidates remaining, a portion of the deposit will be returned.