The National Assembly for Wales (Representation of the People) Order 2003

Trial of petition

94.—(1) An Assembly election petition shall be tried in open court, without a jury, and notice of the time and place of trial shall be given in the prescribed manner not less than fourteen days before the day of trial.

(2) The election court may in its discretion adjourn the trial from time to time, but the trial shall, so far as is practicable consistently with the interests of justice in respect of the trial, be continued from day to day on every lawful day until its conclusion.

(3) The trial of an Assembly election petition shall be proceeded with notwithstanding a respondent having resigned his seat or if he becomes disqualified from being an Assembly member so that his seat is vacant.

(4) On the trial of an Assembly election petition, unless the court otherwise directs, any charge of a corrupt practice may be gone into, and evidence in relation to it received, before any proof has been given of agency on behalf of any candidate in respect of the corrupt practice.

(5) On the trial of an Assembly election petition complaining of an undue election or return and claiming a seat for some person, a respondent may give evidence to prove that that person was not duly elected or was incapable of being duly returned in the same manner as if he had presented a petition against the election or return of that person.

(6) This paragraph applies if, in relation to an Assembly election petition, it appears that—

(a)there is an equality of votes between any candidates at a constituency election, or

(b)two or more individual candidates or registered political parties at a regional election have the same electoral region figure (within the meaning of section 6(3) of the 1998 Act),

and that the addition of a vote would entitle any of those individual candidates or any party list candidate of those parties to be declared elected.

(7) Where paragraph (6) applies—

(a)any decision under the provisions in—

(i)paragraph 55 of Schedule 5, in the case of a constituency election, or

(ii)section 7(9) of the 1998 Act and paragraph 58(8) of Schedule 5, in the case of a regional election,

shall, in so far as it determines the question as to who is elected, be effective also for the purposes of the petition, and

(b)in so far as that question is not determined by such a decision, the court shall decide between them by lot and proceed as if the one on whom the lot then falls had received an additional vote.