The Electoral Commission has produced a wealth of information specifically for candidates & agents covering all types of election. Please see the relevant links below:
Guidance for Candidates and Agents at local government elections in England | Electoral Commission
Guidance for Candidates at Parish council elections in England | Electoral Commission
Guidance for Candidates and Agents at Police and Crime Commissioner elections | Electoral Commission
The guidance covers:
- What you need to know before standing as a candidate
- Candidate spending
- Candidate donations
- The campaign
- Nominations
- Postal votes
- Polling Day
- Verification and count
- After the declaration of the result.
Standing as a candidate
Eligibility
Elections can be held for Parish, Borough, County or Parliamentary elections, either at scheduled election times, or when standing councillor or MP resigns, is disqualified from office or dies.
A position becomes open for candidate nominations when a Notice of Election is posted here: Statutory notices – Wyre Council
Eligibility for candidates wishing to stand in an election is detailed here for:
Make sure you are eligible to stand as a candidate in a specific type of election before you fill in a nomination form.
Paperwork
Any person wishing to stand as a candidate will need to complete the following paperwork:
- a nomination paper, assented by two registered electors for the area in which you are standing for election
- a consent to nomination, confirming that you are willing to stand for election and witnessed by one other person.
- an appointment of election agent (District, County or Parliamentary), unless you are taking this role on yourself.
If you are a candidate for a registered political party you will also need to submit:
- a certificate of authorisation from the political party.
- a request to use the party emblem on the ballot paper.
Obtaining a nomination pack
You can obtain a nomination pack from the Wyre Council elections office or download the forms from the resources section of the Electoral Commission guidance (see links above).
If the election is for a town or parish council vacancy the clerk will have been provided with copies of the pack to give out.
Please read all the documentation carefully before filling the forms in.
If you have any general queries please contact the Wyre elections team on 01253 887257 or email electoral.services@wyre.gov.uk
How to fill out nomination forms
If you are applying to be a candidate for a Parish or Town Council election you can watch guidance here (select start anonymously)
The Electoral Commission have also published animated resources to provide an overview of how the forms should be completed.
- Completing your nomination papers – Guidance for candidates
- Home address form and relevant area – Guidance for candidates
You can find out more information on being a councillor on the Local Government Association website.
If you are standing for a political party, they should have staff who can provide guidance on completing nomination forms.
A candidate must fill in the form correctly or it will not count as a valid nomination.
For nominations for Parish, Borough or County elections a candidate will need to provide 2 assentors, who live in the electoral area and are registered voters. You will need to have access to a copy of the electoral register to get the details required (elector numbers) for the nomination form. You can either:
- Ask the reception team at the Civic Centre to view the electoral register and search for the information there, OR
- Download and complete a register request form for the nomination register for the electoral area relevant to your candidate nomination, and bring it to the Civic Centre to receive a copy of the register. This will be yours to keep and may be of use should you wish to campaign in your polling area.
Formal submission of nomination pack
To formally submit your nomination pack, you or someone you have appointed must hand deliver it to the Civic Centre on Breck Rd, Poulton-le-Fylde in good time before the deadline stated in the Notice of Election.
You can do this by booking an appointment with the elections team on 01253 887257. Appointments must be between 10 am and 4pm, Monday to Friday, within the nomination period.
You will be asked to wait whilst your papers go through an informal check. This is to ensure any issues can be addressed at the time of submission.
We strongly advise submission of papers to be carried out as early as possible. It is not possible to extend the deadline for submission under any circumstances.
The deadline to submit nomination papers is 4pm, 19 working days before the poll.
If you have submitted a nomination and change your mind, the deadline to withdraw a nomination is 4pm, 19 working days before the poll.
By law we cannot accept nominations by post or e-mail
Parliamentary candidates
To qualify as a candidate for UK Parliamentary elections you must:
- Be a British or Commonwealth citizen, a citizen of the Republic of Ireland.
- Be 18 years of age or more on the date of nomination
- Not be disqualified from holding office
A candidate for a UK Parliamentary election must complete a nomination paper in order to stand for election. The nomination paper has to be signed by ten electors of the constituency.
Candidates also have to submit a deposit of £500 which will be refunded only if the candidate receives more than 5% of the total votes cast in the election.