What actions will be included on the list of offences on electoral expenses and advise how such matters will be reported and investigated

1240/5(3705)

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE CHAIRMAN OF PRIVILEGES AND PROCEDURES BY DEPUTY G.P. SOUTHERN OF ST. HELIER

ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 12th FEBRUARY 2008

Question

1. F o ll o wing his response to my question 3673 of 29th January 2008, will the Chairman inform members what actions will be included on the list of offences on electoral expenses and advise how such matters will be reported and investigated in a timescale sufficient to prevent offences being committed in the course of an election and not simply some months or years later when it will be too late to affect the result of the election?

In p a rticular will he address these issues in relation to:

• lobby organisations that are not registered

• expenditure by third parties without prior consent of candidate

• expenditure by third parties with consent

• total expenditure by candidates

• the use of websites based in foreign jurisdictions

Answer

1. The draft legislation soon tobeconsideredbythe Privileges and Procedures Committee on the issue of the regulation of election expenseswill, subject to the receipt oflegal advice, contain offencesincluding the following -

1. it will bean offence for a candidateor third party to exceed the permitted amountofelection expenses;
2. it will be an offence for a candidate or third party to receive donationsin excess of the permitted amounts andit will bean offence to keep anonymousdonationsofmore than £100;
3. it will bean offence for a person whoincursor pays election expenses for a candidateorthirdparty not to provide that person with information about the expenses;
4. it will beanoffence for a person not tomakethenecessary return after the election setting out details of expenditure anddonationsor failing toprovidenecessaryinvoices, receipts and otherproof if required to do so.

E x p e nditure by a third party with the consent of the candidate is considered to be the expenditure of the

candidate himself or herself. Expenditure by third a party without the prior consent of the candidate is regulated by the rules on the maximum amount permitted to be spent by third parties.

It is important to stress that there would be no jurisdiction for the Jersey legislation to regulate activities

undertaken entirely out of the Island. Nevertheless it is likely that in the majority of cases any activity by third parties will be managed and co-ordinated from Jersey and the legislation will therefore apply to any activity in the Island.

A s s t ated in a previous answer the offences will be normal criminal offences which will be investigated in

the usual way. Because of the relatively short period of an election campaign it is only fair to point out that it may be impossible for potential offences to be investigated and taken to Court until after the election. The legislation is nevertheless intended to act as a severe deterrent to any abuse because of the potential criminal offences and experience in other small jurisdictions such as Guernsey has shown that candidates will normally comply with the restrictions.

2. D  o es the Committeeenvisage a separate Electoral Commissionto supervise elections and, if not, which other body will do this?

Answer

2. The Committee does notenvisage a separate Electoral Commissionasit does not believe that this could be justified ongroundsofcosts in a small jurisdiction such as Jersey. Elections in Jersey have for many years been supervised through the Royal Court and the legislation will require candidates and third parties to submit returns of expenditure to the Judicial Greffier.

Question

3. W i ll sanctions include the capacity to declare election results null and void as a result of offences committed?

Answer

3. The Public Elections (Jersey) Law2002 permits the Royal Court toorder fresh elections in certain limited circumstances under that law. TheCommittee's current proposals do not include the ability to declare election results null and void as a result ofoffencescommittedbut the Committee is willing to give further thoughtto this matterin the permanent legislation being brought forward in due course. Itis important to recognise that the ability toprove that an election result had actually been affected by any breach of the rules on election expenditure maybe extremely difficult to establish.

Question

4. W  i ll the Chairman further inform members what costs (both financial and in termsof staff) theCommittee estimates willbe involved in its proposals?

Answer

4. The JudicialGreffier is satisfied that the resourceimplicationsof receiving necessary declarations of expenditure can bemanagedwithin existing resources. As stated abovetheoffencescreated will be investigated asnormal criminal offences anddealt with throughthenormalprosecutionprocess.

5. W  h at consideration has the Committeegiven to limiting candidates to a fixedformat organised by the States or to providing limited assistance to candidates to ensure a levelplaying field?

Answer

5. Candidates will be limited to a fixed level of expenditure and, in practice, the Committeebelieves that this is the most appropriate wayto create a level playing field betweencandidates.TheCommitteedoes not believe it would be appropriate to limit candidates to a fixed format of electioneering as some candidates may, for example, wish to use the expenditure allowed for advertisements in the media whereas others may prefer to simply display posters or circulate letters. The Committee's proposals nevertheless provide for a freemailingat public expensefor every candidate andthese mailings will need to bein a fixedformat determined by the Privileges andProceduresCommittee.

Question

6. W i lltheChairman detail formembershow the Committeeproposestodefinewhat constitutes acceptable assistance from volunteers? In particular, will the Committee consider the following alternatives in relation to the delivery of leaflets door-to-door by:

1. friends ofthecandidate(unpaid);
2. friends ofthecandidate(paidnominal sum);
3. employeesof the candidate (unpaid);
4. employeesof the candidate (paid theirnormal hourly rate).

Answer

6. T h e Committee is determined that the proposed regulation of election expenses does not affect the long tradition of voluntary assistance given to candidates. In order to avoid any loopholes in the legislation the Committee will nevertheless be ensuring that any voluntary assistance provided by a person who normally provides that service as part of his or her business is counted at full cost. For example a candidate who obtains a free website design from a friend who works professionally as a website designer would be required to obtain and declare the normal commercial value of the service as part of his or her overall expenditure limit. In the examples given by Deputy Southern -

a) n o e l ection expenses would be incurred from this voluntary help;

b ) th e n ominal amount paid would be an election expense;

c) the normal salary paid to the employee would count as an election expense for the time spent on election work;

d ) th e p ayment made would be an election expense.

T h e Committee notes that this lengthy set of questions is the third successive set of written questions

submitted by Deputy Southern . Although the Committee is happy to continue to answer questions as submitted I would urge Deputy Southern , if he has concerns, to come to PPC to discuss this issue. If appropriate the Committee may be able to take on board some of his concerns before the legislation is finalised. In addition I must stress that the draft legislation that PPC will bring forward will, of course, be subject to amendment by any member in the usual way.