Parliament Act (Gibraltar)

Parliament Act

Published: 1950-07-21

Subscribe to a Global-Regulation Premium Membership Today!

Key Benefits:

Unlimited Searches
Weekly Updates on New Laws
Access to 5,345,848 Global Laws from 110 Countries
View the Original Law Side-by-Side with the Translation

Subscribe Now for only USD$40 per month.

Parliament

1950-15

PARLIAMENT ACT

Principal Act

Act. No. 1950-15 Commencement 21.7.1950

Parts II, III and IV Assent

With which are consolidated the

following Acts:

Commencement

Acts. 1964-03 Part V 12.6.1964

1979-22 Part VI 20.12.1979

1981-24 24.12.1981

Amending

enactments

Relevant current

provisions

Commencement

date

Acts. 1950-20 s.28

1951-06 s. 20

1955-20 –

1956-11 ss.3(2), 5(2) and 28

1961-17 s.5(1)

1964-16 ss.14(1), 45 and 46

1955-27 s.82

1967-21 ss.3(1) and (2) and 19

Regs. of 19.6.1969 ss.3(1), 5(1), 6, 7, 17, 20(1) and

(4), 22 and 23

Acts. 1969-24 s. 3(1) and 6(1)

1970-19 –

1973-07 ss. 3(1) and 6(1)

1974-40 s.3(4)

1976-06 s.5(1)

1977-28 s.49(4)

1979-21 s. 14(1)

1983-17 ss. 3(1), 5(2), 25(1) and 48(4)

1983-40 ss. 97 and 98

1986-01 s.3 6.2.1986

1987-25 ss. 14 and 25 29.10.1987

1995-17 Sch. 2 22.12.1995

2003-05 s. 14(1) 7.5.2003

2007-17 ss. 101(2) & (3) 14.6.2007

Parliament

1950-15

2007-30 ss. 2(a) & (b), 3(1) & (3), 4(2),

(3) & (4), 5(1), 6, 7(3), 14(1),

17, 20(1) & (4), 22, 22A, 23,

25(1), (2), 86, 88, 91(1)(b), 100,

101, Schs. 2 & 3

28.6.2007

2015-06 s. 94(1)(a) & (b) 26.2.2015

2016-07 ss. 89A, 89B 10.3.2016

English sources

None cited

Parliament

1950-15

DERIVATION OF SECTION

Section Source Section Source

1 Act. 1964-03 s.2 53 Act. 1950- 15 s.19

2 Act. 1981-24 s.2 54 “ 20

3 Act. 1950-15 s.2 55 “ 21

4 “ 3 56 “ 22

5 “ 4 57 “ 23

6 “ 4A 58 “ 24

7 “ 5 59 “ 25

8 “ 6 60 “ 54

9 Act. 1981-24 s.3 61 Act. 1964-03 s.3

10 “ 4 62 “ 4

11 “ 5 63 “ 5

12 Act. 1950-15 s.26 64 “ 6

13 “ 27(1)-(3) 65 “ 7

14 “ 28 (1) & (2) 66 “ 8

15 “ 29(1)- (4) 67 “ 9

& (7) 68 “ 10

16 “ 30 69 “ 11

17 “ 11 70 “ 12

18 “ 7 71 “ 13

19 “ 8 72 “ 17

20 “ 10 73 “ 14

21 “ 9 74 “ 16

22 “ 13 75 “ 15

23 “ 12 76 “ 18

24 “ 55 77 “ 19

25 “ 56 78 “ 21

26 “ 31 79 “ 22

27 “ 32 80 “ 20

28 “ 35 81 “ 25

29 “ 36 82 “ 24

30 “ 37 83 “ 23

31 “ 27(4) 84 “ 26

32 “ 28(3) 85 “ 27

33 “ 29(5) 86 “ 28

34 “ 44 87 “ 29

35 “ 33 88 “ 30

36 “ 49 89 “ 31

37 “ 45 90 Act. 1979-22 s.2

38 “ 43 91 “ 3

39 “ 29(6) 92 “ 4

40 “ 38 93 “ 5

41 “ 39 94 “ 6

42 “ 40 95 “ 7

Parliament

1950-15

43 “ 42 96 “ 8

44 “ 53 97 “ 8A

45 “ 41 98 “ 8B

46 “ 34 99 “ 9

47 “ 46 100 “ 10

48 “ 47 101 “ 11

49 “ 48 102 “ 12

50 “ 52

51 Act. 1950-15 s.50 Sch.

52 “ 51 1 Act. 1981-24

2 “

3 “

Parliament

1950-15

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

PART I.

PRELIMINARY.

Section

1. Short title.

2. Interpretation.

PART II.

ELECTIONS.

The franchise

3. Electors.

Registration of electors

4. Registration officer.

5. Register of electors.

6. Supplements to the register.

7. Registration expenses.

8. Appeals from the registration officer.

Eligibility of public officers

9. Public officers who may be elected members.

10. Public officers who may be candidates for election.

11. Consequences of failure to comply with undertaking.

Agents and expenditure

12. Election agents.

13. Contracts and payments.

14. Limit on expenditure.

15. Returns by election agents.

16. Limitation for claims.

Conduct of elections

17. Returning officer.

18. Conduct of elections.

19. Entitlement to vote.

20. Issue of writ.

21. General, partial and void elections.

Parliament

1950-15

22. Method of voting.

22A. Equality of votes.

23. Expenses of elections.

Miscellaneous

24. Exemption from stamp duty.

25. Rules.

PART III.

ELECTION OFFENCES

Illegal practices

26. Providing money for illegal practice.

27. Corruptly inducing withdrawal.

28. Restrictions on premises to be used as committee rooms.

29. Illegal employment.

30. Penalties for offences against sections 26 to 29.

31. Payments made otherwise than through election agents.

32. Exceeding limit on expenditure.

33. Agent failing to make return.

34. Voting by prohibited persons and publishing of false statements.

35. Posters to bear names of printers and publishers.

36. Penalty for and incapacity following illegal practices.

37. Relief for innocent acts.

Corrupt practices

38. Definition and penalty for corrupt practices.

39. False declarations.

40. Meaning of bribery.

41. Meaning of treating.

42. Meaning of undue influence.

43. Meaning of personation.

44. Persons charged with corrupt practice may be convicted of illegal

practice.

Other offences

45. Molestation.

46. Destroying or defacing posters.

47. Offences in respect of ballot boxes and ballot papers.

48. Infringement of secrecy.

49. Breaches of official duty.

Miscellaneous

Parliament

1950-15

50. Limitation.

51. Duties of Attorney-General.

52. Removal of incapacity.

PART IV.

ELECTION PETITIONS.

53. Grounds for petitioning.

54. Application of English law.

55. Who may petition.

56. Security for costs.

57. Trial of petitions.

58. Withdrawal of election petition.

59. Exoneration of candidate where agent guilty of offence.

60. No obligation on voter to disclose vote.

PART V.

POWERS AND PRIVILEGES OF THE PARLIAMENT.

Privileges

61. Freedom of speech and debate.

62. Immunity from legal proceedings.

63. Power to exclude strangers.

64. No evidence of proceedings to be given without leave.

65. Immunity from process within the precincts.

Procuring of evidence

66. Power to order attendance of witness.

67. Issue of summons.

68. Examination on oath.

69. Objections to answering questions or producing papers.

70. Privileges of witnesses.

71. Issue of certificates to protect witnesses.

72. Usage of Parliament.

Offences

73. False evidence.

74. False documents.

75. Interference with witnesses.

76. Corrupt and improper practices.

77. Contempt.

78. Disobedience.

79. Breaches of confidence, etc.

Parliament

1950-15

80. Assaulting, etc., members and officers.

81. Penalties.

82. Sanction of Attorney-General.

83. Powers of Parliament in cases of contempt.

Miscellaneous

84. Commons journals as evidence.

85. Journals, etc., of the Parliament as evidence.

86. Absence of the Speaker.

87. Suspension of members.

88. Powers supplementary.

89. Exclusion of court’s jurisdiction.

PART VI.

PENSIONS.

89A. Application.

89B. Alternative pension scheme.

90. Interpretation.

91. Entitlement to pension.

92. Computation of pension.

93. Computation of notional annual allowance.

94. Reduced pension and gratuity.

95. Effect of re-election.

96. Gratuity on death.

97. Members dying of injuries or diseases contracted on duty.

98. Members injured or contracting diseases on duty.

99. Pension not assignable.

100. Cessation of pension on disqualification.

101. Increase of pension.

102. Charge on Consolidated Fund.

SCHEDULE 1.

Classes of Public Officers who may be elected as members

SCHEDULE 2.

Classes of Public Officers who may be candidates for election

SCHEDULE 3.

Form of undertaking

Parliament

1950-15

AN ACT TO GOVERN ELECTIONS TO THE GIBRALTAR

PARLIAMENT, THE POWERS AND PRIVILEGES ATTACHING TO

THE PARLIAMENT AND THE PENSIONS PAYABLE TO MEMBERS

OF THE PARLIAMENT.

PART I.

PRELIMINARY.

Short title.

1.This Act may be cited as the Parliament Act.

Interpretation.

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires–

(a) “authorized committee” means any standing committee of the

Parliament or any other committee authorized under section

66(2) to exercise the powers of a standing committee;

“Clerk” means the Clerk of the Parliament and includes any person

acting as such on the authority of the Speaker;

“committee” means any standing, select or other committee of the

Parliament;

“corrupt practice” has the meaning given to it in section 38;

“court” means the Supreme Court;

“election agent” means a person appointed as such by a candidate

under section 12;

“election petition” means a petition presented under section 54;

“journals” means the official record of the votes and proceedings of

the Parliament;

“member” means any member of the Parliament and includes the

Speaker;

“Minister” means the Minister with responsibility for elections;

“officer” means the Clerk or any other officer or person acting within

the precincts of the Parliament Chamber under the orders of the

Speaker;

Parliament

1950-15

“precincts of the Parliament Chamber” means the chamber in which

the Parliament or a committee thereof sits for the transaction of

business, together with the offices, rooms, lobbies, galleries,

courtyards, gardens and other places provided for the use or

accommodation of members, officers or strangers, and any

passages connecting such places, and any other places

immediately contiguous thereto as may from time to time be

designated by the Speaker;

“registration officer” means a person designated under section 4(2) to

be the registration officer;

“returning officer” means a person designated under section 17 to be

the returning officer;

“Standing Orders” means the Standing Rules and Orders of the

Parliament made under the Gibraltar Constitution Order 2006

and any rules of procedure made under the Constitution;

“stranger” means a person other than a member or an officer; and

(b) expressions used shall have the same meanings as they have in

Chapter III of the Constitution and the provisions of section 78

of the Constitution affecting the interpretation of that chapter

shall apply accordingly.

PART II.

ELECTIONS.

The franchise.

Electors.

3. (1) The persons entitled to vote as electors at elections of members of

the Parliament (in this Act referred to as ‘the Parliament’) under the

Gibraltar Constitution Order 2006 shall be those persons who–

(i) have lived in Gibraltar during the whole of the qualifying

period; and

(ii) intend to live in Gibraltar either permanently or indefinitely;

and

(iii) are, on the qualifying date and on the date of the poll, British

citizens, British Overseas Territories citizens, British Overseas

citizens, British Nationals (Overseas), British protected persons

Parliament

1950-15

or British subjects under the British Nationality Act 1981, and

are 18 years of age or over and are not subject to any legal

incapacity to vote;

Provided that a person shall not be entitled to vote as an elector unless

registered in the register of electors to be used at the election, and that no

person shall be so entitled to vote or to be registered as an elector if–

(a) by virtue of his own act he is under any knowledgement of

allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign State or Power;

(b) he has been sentenced by any court in Her Majesty's dominions

to death or to imprisonment (by whatever name called) for a

term exceeding twelve months and has not either suffered the

punishment to which he was sentenced or such other

punishment as may by a competent authority have been

substituted therefor, or received a free pardon; or

law for the time being in force in Gibraltar; or

(d) he is disqualified by any enactment relating to offences

connected with elections; or

(e) he is a person serving in Gibraltar in any of Her Majesty’s

armed forces (other than the Gibraltar Regiment constituted

under the Gibraltar Regiment Act 2 ), or the spouse of such

person;

Provided further that a person who has not attained the age of eighteen

years on the qualifying date fixed for the register or for any supplement

prepared and published under section 6 shall, if he will have attained such

age on or before such later date as may be prescribed in an order made by

the Minister, be entitled to be included in the register or supplement as the

case may be and to vote at any election which takes place after he has

attained the age of eighteen years and before the register (including the

supplement) ceases to have effect.

(1A) In determining questions arising under subsection (1)(i) as to

whether a person has lived in Gibraltar during the whole of the qualifying

period, regard shall be had to the purpose and other circumstances, as well

as to the fact, of his presence in or absence from Gibraltar.

2 1998-25

Parliament

1950-15

(1B) For the purposes of subsection (1)(ii) the following presumptions

shall apply:

(a) where a person has his home in Gibraltar, he shall be presumed

to intend to live in Gibraltar permanently or indefinitely;

(b) where a person has more than one home, he shall be presumed

to live permanently or indefinitely in that place in which he

has his principal home;

purpose of carrying on a business, profession or occupation,

and his spouse and children, if any, have their home outside

Gibraltar, he shall be presumed to intend to live permanently

or indefinitely in the latter place.

(2) The qualifying period shall be a continuous period of six months

ending on and including the qualifying date.

(3) The Minister may from time to time by order published in the

Gazette appoint a date to be the qualifying date for the purposes of this

section.

(4) The expression “qualifying date” means such date in relation to a

Gazette, provide.

Registration of electors

Registration officer.

4.(1) For the registration of electors there shall be an electoral registration

officer.

(2) The registration officer shall be the Clerk.

(3) Repealed

(4) Repealed

Register of electors.

5.(1) It shall be the duty of the registration officer to prepare and publish a

every such register shall–

Parliament

1950-15

(a) be prepared in accordance with the rules made under the

provisions of this Act;

(b) be published not later than the lst day of August in the year in

which it is prepared;

(d) remain in force until the register next compiled is published:

Provided that the Minister may by order published in the Gazette, vary all

or any of the times or dates mentioned in this section and in any rules made

under the provisions of this Act and may substitute other times and dates in

lieu thereof.

(2) With a view to the preparation of the register, the registration officer

shall –

(a) have a house to house or other sufficient enquiry made in

Gibraltar as to the persons entitled to be registered;

(b) publish in the Gazette and in any such other manner as in his

opinion is best calculated to bring it to the attention of the

electors a notice that within the period of one month next

following the date of publication he will receive applications in

the prescribed form from persons claiming to be entitled to be

registered by virtue of a non-residence qualification;

appearing to him to be entitled to be registered; and

(d) determine all claims for registration duly made by any person,

and all objections to any persons' registration duly made by

another person appearing from the electors list to be himself

entitled to be registered.

Supplements to the register.

6.(1) The Minister may, from time to time, by order published in the

Gazette, provide for the preparation and publication of a supplement to the

supplement.

(2) The persons entitled to be included in the supplement shall be those

persons entitled by virtue of section 3 to be included in the register and to

vote but who are not included in the register.

Parliament

1950-15

(3) Until such time as a new register is prepared and published under the

provisions of section 5, the register and any supplement thereto shall

constitute the register of electors and any reference in this Act or any rules

made thereunder to the register or list of electors shall be construed as

extending to and including the supplement.

Registration expenses.

7. (1) Any expenses properly incurred by the registration officer in the

performance of his registration duties shall be paid out of the Consolidated

Fund.

(2) Any fees or other sums received by the registration officer in respect

of his registration duties, other than sums paid to that officer in respect of

his registration expenses, shall be accounted for by that officer and paid into

the Consolidated Fund.

(3) Registration expenses shall include all proper and reasonable charges

for the registration officer’s own personal remuneration for performing his

registration duties and for the remuneration and expenses of any staff

provided to enable him to perform them, but shall not include any sum on

account of the use of premises, furniture or equipment provided by the

Government in excess of the amount by which the Government’s

expenditure has actually and directly been increased by the use of those

premises or of that furniture or equipment in connection with registration.

Appeals from the registration officer.

8.(1) An appeal shall lie to the court from any decision of the registration

officer on any claim for registration or objection to a person’s registration

made to and considered by him under this Act:

Provided that an appeal shall not lie where the person desiring to appeal

has not availed himself of his right to be heard by or to make representations

to the registration officer on the matter which is the subject of the appeal, or

has not given notice of appeal within the prescribed time.

(2) Any power given under this section to the court may be exercised by

the Chief Justice in chambers.

(3) An appeal by virtue of this section which is pending when notice of

an election is given shall not prejudice the operation as respects the election

of the decision appealed against, and anything done in pursuance of the

decision shall be as good as if no such appeal had been brought and shall not

be affected by the decision on the appeal.

Parliament

1950-15

(4) Notice shall be sent to the registration officer by the Registrar of the

Supreme Court of the decision of the court on any appeal under this section,

and the registration officer shall make such alterations in the electors list or

(5) The registration officer shall undertake such duties in connection

with appeals brought by virtue of this section as may be prescribed and shall

on any such appeal be deemed to be a party to the proceedings and the

registration expenses payable to the registration officer shall include any

expenses properly incurred by him by virtue of this subsection.

(6) Every appeal under this section shall be prosecuted, heard and

determined by the court in such manner and in accordance with such rules of

procedure as may be prescribed by rules of court made in the like manner as

rules made under and for the purposes of the Supreme Court Act, and the

costs of every such appeal shall be at the discretion of the court;

Provided that costs shall not be awarded against the registration officer.

Eligibility of public officers

Public officers who may be elected members.

9. A person shall not be disqualified for election as an elected member of

the Parliament by virtue of his holding or acting in any public office or class

of public office specified in Schedule 1.

Public officers who may be candidates for election.

10.(1) A person may stand as a candidate for election as an elected member

of the Parliament, notwithstanding that he holds or is acting in any public

office or class of public office specified in Schedule 2, if he undertakes in

accordance with this section to relinquish and cease to act in any public

office (other than any public office referred to or of a class referred to in

section 9) if he is elected as an elected member of the Parliament.

(2) Every undertaking given under this section shall be in the form

specified in Schedule 3.

(3) Every undertaking given under this section shall be delivered to the

returning officer before the person by whom it is given stands as a candidate

for election as an elected member of the Parliament.

Consequences of failure to comply with undertaking.

11. An elected member who has given an undertaking under section 10 –

Parliament

1950-15

(a) shall be incapable of taking his seat in the Parliament until he

has fulfilled the undertaking; and

(b) shall, on the expiry of the period of one month following the

date of his election, vacate his seat if he has not then fulfilled

the undertaking.

Agents and expenditure

Election agents.

12.(1) At the latest time fixed for delivery of notices of withdrawals of

candidates at an election, each candidate shall by notice in writing given to

the returning officer, appoint either himself or some other person as his

agent for such election and shall specify an address to which all claims,

notices, writs, summonses and documents may be sent, addressed to the

candidate or his agent and the returning officer shall publish in the Gazette

the name and address of every election agent so appointed.

(2) Every candidate may at any time, by notice in writing given to the

returning officer, revoke the appointment of his election agent, and, in the

event of such revocation, or of the death of such agent, whether such event

is before, during or after the election, another election agent shall forthwith

be appointed and notice of his name and address shall be given in writing to

the returning officer who shall publish the same in the Gazette.

(3) Any document delivered at the address specified in the notice

referred to in this section shall be deemed to have been duly served upon the

election agent.

(4) In any case where a candidate shall fail to give notice as provided by

subsection (1), he shall be deemed to be his own election agent and, for the

purposes of this section, his address as appearing upon his nomination paper

shall be deemed to be the address for the purposes set out in subsection (1).

Contracts and payments.

13. (1) The election agent of a candidate shall appoint every person

employed for payment on behalf of the candidate at an election, and hire

every committee room hired on behalf of the candidate.

(2) A contract whereby any expenses are incurred on account of, or in

respect of, the conduct or management of an election shall not be

enforceable against a candidate unless made by the candidate himself, or by

his election agent:

Parliament

1950-15

Provided that the inability under this section to enforce such contract

against the candidate shall not relieve the candidate from the consequences

of any illegal practice having been committed by his agent.

(3) Except as permitted by or in pursuance of this Act no payment,

advance or deposit shall be made by a candidate, at an election, or by any

agent on behalf of such candidate, or by any other person, at any time,

whether before, during, or after such election, in respect of any expenses

incurred on account of or in respect of the conduct or management of such

election, otherwise than by or through the election agent of such candidate;

and all money provided by any person other than the candidate for any

expenses incurred on account of or in respect of the conduct or management

of the election, whether as a gift, loan, advance or deposit, shall be paid to

the candidate or his election agent and not otherwise;

Provided that this section shall not be deemed to apply to any sum

disbursed by any person out of his own money for any small expense legally

incurred by himself, if such sum is not repaid to him.

Limit on expenditure.

14.(1) Subject to the provisions of subsection (2), no expenditure shall be

incurred in relation to the candidature of any person at any election, in

excess of £3,000.

(2) In determining the total expenditure incurred in relation to the

candidature of any person at any election, regard shall not be had to any

expenditure incurred one month or more before the election in respect of

services rendered, or materials supplied.

(3) Where any expenditure is incurred in contravention of the provisions

of this section the person by whom such expenditure was incurred, and the

candidate in connection with whose candidature it was incurred, shall be

deemed to be guilty of an illegal practice:

Provided that no candidate shall be deemed to be guilty of an illegal

practice by reason of any other person having incurred any expenditure in

connection with the candidature of the candidate in contravention of the

provisions of this section if the candidate proves that such expenditure was

incurred without his knowledge or consent and that he took all reasonable

steps to prevent the incurrence of such expenditure.

Returns by election agents.

15.(1) Within six weeks after the day on which the candidate or candidates

returned at an election is or are declared to be elected, the election agent of

every candidate at such election shall make a return containing a full

Parliament

1950-15

statement under the appropriate head of all expenditure incurred in

connection with the election by or on behalf of the candidate supported by

vouchers for all payments in excess of £2. Such return shall be accompanied

by a declaration made before a justice of the peace.

(2) Every return made under this section shall contain a full statement of

all moneys, securities or value received by the election agent from the

candidate or from any other person in connection with the election.

(3) Every return under this section shall also be accompanied by a

declaration made before a justice of the peace by the candidate stating that –

(a) the return fully and accurately sets out all payments made by

the candidate himself; and

(b) that to the best of his knowledge, information and belief, the

return is a full and accurate return of all expenditure incurred,

and of all moneys, securities or value received by the election

agent, in connection with the election:

Provided that where a candidate acts as his own agent this paragraph shall

not apply.

(4) Where a candidate acts as his own agent the form referred to in

subsection (1) shall be modified accordingly.

(5) The returning officer, within ten days after he receives any return

under this section, shall publish in a daily newspaper a notice of the time

and place at which the return and the documents in support thereof can be

inspected.

Limitation for claims.

16.(1) Subject to the provisions of subsections (2), (3) and (4) –

(a) every claim against a candidate or his election agent, in respect

of any expenses incurred on account of, or in respect of, the

conduct or management of an election which is not sent into

the election agent within fourteen days after the day on which

the candidates returned are declared elected, shall be barred and

shall not be paid; and an election agent who pays a claim which

is barred under this section is guilty of an illegal practice; and

(b) all expenses incurred by or on behalf of a candidate at an

election, which are incurred on account of or in respect of the

conduct or management of such election, shall be paid within

twenty-eight days after the day on which the candidates

Parliament

1950-15

returned are declared elected and not otherwise, and an election

agent who makes a payment in contravention of this provision

is guilty of an illegal practice.

(2) If the agent in the case of any claim sent in to him within the time

limited by subsection (1) disputes it, or refuses or fails to pay it within the

period of twenty-eight days, such claim shall be deemed to be a disputed

claim.

(3) The claimant may, if he thinks fit, bring an action for a disputed

claim in the court; and any sum paid by the candidate or his agent in

pursuance of the judgment or order of the court shall be deemed to be paid

within the time limited by subsection (1).

(4) On cause shown to the satisfaction of the Chief Justice in chambers,

he, on application by the claimant or by the candidate or by his election

agent, may by order give leave for the payment by a candidate or his election

agent of a disputed claim, or of a claim for any such expenses as aforesaid,

although sent in after the time mentioned in subsection (1) for sending in

claims, or although such claim was sent in to the candidate and not to the

election agent ; and any sum specified in the order may be paid by the

candidate or his election agent, and when paid in pursuance of such order

shall be deemed to be paid within the time limited by subsection (1).

Conduct of Elections.

Returning officer.

17. The returning officer shall be the registration officer.

Conduct of elections.

18.(1) The proceedings at elections shall be conducted in accordance with

rules made under the provisions of this Act.

(2) No election shall be declared invalid by reason of any act or

omission of the returning officer or any other person for breach of official

duty in connection with the election or otherwise, of such rules as may be

prescribed if it appears to the court that the election was so conducted as to

be substantially in accordance with the law as to elections and the act or

omission did not affect the result.

Entitlement to vote.

19. No person shall be entitled to vote at any election unless his name is on

the register of electors for the time being in force; and every person whose

name is on such register shall be entitled to demand and receive a ballot

Parliament

1950-15

paper and vote at any such election unless that person has not acquired

voting rights by virtue of the second proviso to section 3(1):

Provided that nothing in this section shall entitle any person to vote who is

prohibited from voting by any enactment, or relieve such person from any

penalty to which he may be liable for voting.

Issue of writ.

20.(1) For the purpose of every general election of members to the

Parliament, and for the purpose of every election to supply a vacancy arising

otherwise than by reason of the dissolution of the Parliament, the Governor

shall issue a writ, under the Public Seal of Gibraltar, directed to the

returning officer, directing him to cause election to be made according to

law, of such number of members as are specified in the writ, to serve in the

Parliament.

(2) Every such writ shall also specify the day of election which shall not

be less than thirty days after the day on which the writ is received by the

returning officer.

(3) Upon receipt of such writ the returning officer shall endorse thereon

and sign the date of the receipt thereof.

(4) The return of members elected to serve in the Parliament shall be

made by a certificate of the names of such members under the hand of the

returning officer endorsed on the writ and the returning officer shall deliver

the writ with such certificate endorsed to the Governor.

(5) The execution of the writ shall belong to the returning officer as such

and the writ shall be directed to him by the title of his office as returning

officer, and that office shall be a distinct office from that, if any, by virtue of

which he becomes returning officer.

(6) Where a person enters any office by virtue of which he becomes

returning officer it shall belong to him and not to the outgoing holder of that

office to complete the execution of any writ for an election previously issued

and not yet returned.

General, partial and void elections.

21.(1) If at any election the number of candidates who have been validly

nominated, and who do not withdraw their candidature, exceeds the number

of members to be elected the members shall be elected from among the

persons nominated.

Parliament

1950-15

(2) If at any election the number of candidates who have been validly

nominated is equal to or is, by the withdrawal of any candidate, reduced to

the number equal to the number of vacancies, the returning officer shall give

notice that no poll will be taken and that the candidates so nominated are

declared to be elected.

(3) If at any election the number of candidates who have been validly

nominated is less than or is, by the withdrawal of any candidate, reduced to

a number less than the number of vacancies, the returning officer shall give

notice that the candidates so nominated are declared elected and the

Governor may order a new election to fill the remaining vacancy or

vacancies to be held on a day appointed by him.

(4) If any election becomes void the Governor shall order a new election

to be held on a day to be appointed by him.

(5) Where a new election is ordered under this section the election shall

be conducted in the same manner as is directed by this Act for the conduct

of the election in the place of which the new election is ordered.

Method of voting.

22. At a contested election for members of the Parliament each elector may

vote for as many candidates as there are vacancies to be filled unless there

are more vacancies than ten, in which case each elector may vote for not

more than ten candidates.

Equality of votes.

22A.(1) Where the counting of votes (including any recount) has been

completed and an equality of votes is found to exist between any candidates

and the addition of a vote would entitle any of those candidates to be

declared elected, a new poll shall be conducted as between those candidates

on the day 21 days after the date of that election.

(2) Where a poll is conducted pursuant to subsection (1) the Elections

Rules shall apply to that poll save that the returning officer may abridge the

time for the taking of any act required under those rules where this is

required to enable the poll to be undertaken on the day specified in

subsection (1).

(3) If any number of such candidates is withdrawn so that only one of

them remains, that remaining candidate shall be duly elected without the

need for such a poll to be taken.

Expenses of elections.

Parliament

1950-15

23. All expenses properly incurred by the returning officer in relation to the

holding of elections shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund.

Miscellaneous.

Exemption from stamp duty.

24. Stamp duty shall not be chargeable on any claim, notice, declaration,

list, register, nomination paper, ballot paper or other document used in

connection with this Act.

Rules.

25. (1) The Minister may from time to time make rules for all or any of the

following purposes –

(a) prescribing the forms to be used for the purpose of this Act;

(b) prescribing the fees to be paid or charged in respect of any

matter or thing to be done in connection with this Act;

permit his employees to be absent from work for the purpose of

recording their votes;

(d) regulating the procedure for the registration of voters and the

conduct of elections; and

(e) enabling persons who are entitled to vote as electors but are

temporarily outside from Gibraltar to make postal votes in

elections;

(ea) enabling persons who are entitled to vote as electors but whose

temporary absence from Gibraltar is such that they will not be

able to cast a postal vote in elections;

(eb) enabling persons who are entitled to vote at an election who,

after the registration as an absentee voter closes, are informed

that on election day they will be an in-patient at a hospital; and

(f) generally for carrying into effect the provisions of this Act.

(2) Any rules made shall be laid upon the table of the Parliament.

PART III.

ELECTION OFFENCES.

Parliament

1950-15

Illegal practices.

Providing of money for illegal practice.

26. A person who knowingly provides money for any payment which is

contrary to the provisions of this Act, or for any expenses incurred in excess

of any maximum amount allowed by this Act, or for replacing any money

expended in any such payment or expenses except where such payment or

expenses may have been previously allowed in pursuance of this Act to be

an exception, is guilty of illegal payment.

Corruptly inducing withdrawal.

27. A person who corruptly induces or procures any other person to

withdraw from being a candidate at an election in consideration of any

payment or promise of payment is guilty of illegal payment, and any person

withdrawing, in pursuance of such inducement or procurement, is also guilty

of illegal payment.

Restrictions on premises to be used as committee room.

28.

(a) Any premises on which the sale by wholesale or retail of any

intoxicating liquor is authorized by a licence (whether the

licence be for consumption on or off the premises);

(b) any premises where any intoxicating liquor is sold or is

supplied to members of a club, society or association other than

a permanent political club; or

shall not be used as a committee room for the purpose of promoting or

procuring the election of a candidate at an election, and any person who

hires or uses any such premises or any part thereof as a committee room for

such a purpose as aforesaid, is guilty of illegal hiring and the person letting

such premises or part thereof, if he knew that it was intended to use such

premises or part thereof as a committee room for such a purpose as

aforesaid, is also guilty of illegal hiring:

Provided that nothing in this section–

(i) shall apply to any part of such premises which is

ordinarily let for the purpose of chambers or offices or

the holding of public meetings or of arbitrations, if such

part has a separate entrance and no direct communication

Parliament

1950-15

with any part of the premises on which any intoxicating

liquor is sold or supplied as aforesaid;

(ii) shall preclude a candidate, for the purpose of holding a

public meeting in furtherance of his candidature, from

using at reasonable times a suitable room in any school,

subject to the consent of the headmaster of such school

having previously been obtained.

Illegal employment.

29. No person shall, for the purpose of promoting or procuring the election

of a candidate at any election, be engaged or employed for payment or

promise of payment as a canvasser. If any person is engaged or employed in

contravention of this section, either before, during, or after an election, the

person engaging or employing him, is guilty of illegal employment and the

person so engaged or employed is also guilty of illegal employment.

Penalties for offences against sections 26-29.

30.(1) A candidate, or any election agent of a candidate who personally

commits the offence of illegal payment, hiring or employment is guilty of an

illegal practice.

(2) Any other person who commits the offence of illegal payment, hiring

or employment is liable on summary conviction to a fine of £100.

Payments made otherwise than through election agents.

31. A person who makes any payment, advance or deposit in contravention

of section 13(3) is guilty of an illegal practice.

Exceeding limit on expenditure.

32. Where any expenditure is incurred in contravention of the provisions of

section 14 the person by whom such expenditure was incurred, and the

candidate in connection with whose candidature it was incurred, shall be

deemed to be guilty of an illegal practice:

Provided that no candidate shall be deemed to be guilty of an illegal

practice by reason of any other person having incurred any expenditure in

connection with the candidature of the candidate in contravention of the

provisions of section 14 if the candidate proves that such expenditure was

incurred without his knowledge or consent and that he took all reasonable

steps to prevent the incurrence of such expenditure.

Agent failing to make return.

Parliament

1950-15

33. A candidate or election agent who, without such authorized excuse as is

in this Act mentioned, fails to comply with the requirements of section 15 is

guilty of an illegal practice.

Voting by prohibited persons and publishing of false statements.

34. A person who–

(a) votes, or induces or procures any person to vote, at any

election, knowing that he or such other person is prohibited by

this Act, or by any other enactment, from voting at such

election; or

(b) before or during an election knowingly publishes a false

statement of the withdrawal of a candidate at such election for

the purpose of promoting or procuring the election of another

candidate,

is guilty of an illegal practice;

Provided that a candidate is not liable, nor shall his election be avoided,

for any illegal practice under this section committed by his agent other than

his election agent.

Posters to bear names of printers and publishers.

35.(1) Every bill, placard, or poster having reference to an election shall

bear upon the face thereof the name and address of the printer and publisher

thereof; and a person who prints, publishes, posts or knowingly causes to be

printed, published or posted, any such bill, placard or poster, which fails to

bear upon the face thereof the name and address of the printer and publisher,

is, if he be the candidate or the election agent of the candidate be guilty of

an illegal practice, and any such person, if he be not the candidate or the

election agent of the candidate, is liable, on summary conviction, to a fine

of £100.

(2) Subsection (1) shall apply to every printed document distributed for

the purpose of promoting or procuring the election of a candidate as it

applies to bills, placards and posters but with the substitution of references

to distributing for references to posting.

(3) For the purposes of this section any process of multiplying copies of

a document, other than copying it by hand, shall be deemed to be printing

and the expression “printer” shall be construed accordingly.

Penalty for and incapacity following illegal practices.

Parliament

1950-15

36. A person who is convicted of any offence declared to be an illegal

practice under this Act is liable, on summary conviction to a fine of £100,

and shall, in addition, be incapable during a period of five years from the

date of his conviction of –

(a) being registered as an elector or of voting at an election; or

(b) being elected at an election or, if elected before conviction, of

retaining his seat.

Relief for innocent acts.

37. Where, on application made, it is shown to the court by such evidence as

seems to the court sufficient –

(a) that any act or omission of a candidate at any election, or of any

agent or other person, would, by reason of being in

contravention of any of the provisions of this Act, be but for

this section an illegal practice, payment, employment or hiring;

and

(b) that such act or omission arose from inadvertence or from

accidental miscalculation or from some other reasonable cause

of the like nature, and in any case did not arise from any want

of good faith; and

court seems fit,

and under the circumstances it seems to the court to be just that such

candidate, agent and person, or any of them, should not be subject to any of

the consequences under this Act of the act or omission, the court may make

an order allowing such act or omission to be an exception from the

provisions of this Act which would otherwise make the same an illegal

practice, payment, employment or hiring, and thereupon such candidate,

agent or person shall not be subject to any of the consequences under this

Act of the act or omission.

Corrupt practices .

Definition of and penalty for corrupt practices.

38. (1) The expression “corrupt practice” in this Act means any of the

following offences, namely, bribery, treating, undue influence, and

personation as defined by this Act and aiding, abetting, counselling and

procuring the offence of personation.

Parliament

1950-15

(2) A person who commits any corrupt practice other than personation

or aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the offence of personation is

liable, on summary conviction to imprisonment for six months and to a fine

of £100.

(3) A person who commits the offence of personation or of aiding,

abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of that offence is liable,

on conviction, to imprisonment for two years and to a fine of £200:

Provided that a person charged with personation shall not be summarily

convicted by virtue of this section or committed for trial, except on the

evidence of not less than two credible witnesses.

(4) A person who is convicted of any corrupt practice shall (in addition

to any punishment as above provided) be incapable during a period of seven

years from the date of his conviction–

(a) of being registered as an elector or of voting at an election; or

(b) of being elected at an election or, if elected before conviction,

of retaining his seat.

False declarations.

39.A candidate or election agent who knowingly makes the declaration

required by section 15 falsely is guilty of a corrupt practice.

Meaning of bribery.

40. The following persons shall be deemed guilty of bribery within the

meaning of this Act –

(a) any person who directly or indirectly by himself or by any other

person on his behalf gives, lends, or agrees to give or lend, or

offers, promises, or promises to procure or to endeavour to

procure, any money or valuable consideration to or for any

elector, or to or for any person on behalf of any elector, or to or

for any other person, in order to induce any elector to vote for

or refrain from voting, or corruptly does any such act on

account of such elector having voted or refrained from voting

at any election;

(b) any person who directly or indirectly, by himself or by any

other person on his behalf, gives or procures, or agrees to give

or procure, or offers, promises, or promises to procure or to

endeavour to procure any office, place, or employment to or for

Parliament

1950-15

any elector, or to or for any person on behalf of any elector, or

to or for any other person, in order to induce such elector to

vote or refrain from voting, or corruptly does any such act on

account of any elector having voted or refrained from voting at

any election;

person on his behalf, makes any such gift, loan, offer, promise,

procurement, or agreement as aforesaid, to or for any person, in

order to induce such person to procure, or endeavour to

procure, the election of any person or the vote of any elector at

any election;

(d) any person who, upon or in consequence of any such gift, loan,

offer, promise, procurement, or agreement, procures or

engages, promises or endeavours to procure the election of any

person or the vote of any elector at any election;

(e) any person who advances or pays, or causes to be paid, any

money to or to the use of any other person, with the intent that

such money, or any part thereof, shall be expended in bribery at

any election, or who knowingly pays, or causes to be paid, any

money to any person in discharge or repayment of any money

wholly or in part expended in bribery at any election;

(f) any elector who before or during any election, directly or

indirectly, by himself, or by any other person on his behalf,

receives, agrees, or contracts for any money, gift, loan, or

valuable consideration, office, place, or employment, for

himself or for any person, for voting or agreeing to vote, or for

refraining or agreeing to refrain from voting, at any election;

and

(g) any person who, after any election, directly or indirectly, by

himself or by any other person on his behalf, receives any

money or valuable consideration on account of any person

having voted or refrained from voting, or having induced any

other person to vote or refrain from voting, at any election.

Meaning of treating.

41. The following persons shall be deemed guilty of treating within the

meaning of this Act –

(a) any person who corruptly by himself or by any other person,

either before, during, or after an election, directly or indirectly,

gives or provides, or pays wholly or in part the expenses of

Parliament

1950-15

giving or providing, any food, drink, entertainment, or

provision to or for any person for the purpose of corruptly

influencing that person, or any other person, to vote or refrain

from voting at such election, or on account of such person or

any other person having voted or refrained from voting or

being about to vote or refrain from voting at such election; and

(b) any elector who corruptly accepts or takes any such food, drink,

entertainment, or provision.

Meaning of undue influence.

42. A person who directly or indirectly, by himself or by any other person on

his behalf, makes use of, or threatens to make use of, any force, violence, or

restraint, or inflicts, or threatens to inflict, by himself or by any other person,

any temporal or spiritual injury, damage, harm, or loss, or in any other

manner practices intimidation upon or against any person, in order to induce

or compel such person to vote or, refrain from voting, or on account of such

person having voted or refrained from voting, at any election, or who by

abduction, duress or any fraudulent contrivance, impedes or prevents the

free exercise of the franchise of any elector, or thereby compels, induces, or

prevails upon any elector either to give or refrain from giving his vote at any

election, is guilty of undue influence within the meaning of this Act.

Meaning of personation.

43. A person who at an election applies for a ballot paper in the name of

another person, whether that name be the name of a person living or dead, or

of a fictitious person, or who, having voted once at any election, applies at

the same election for a ballot paper in his own name, is guilty of personation

within the meaning of this Act.

Persons charged with corrupt practice may be convicted of illegal

practice.

44.A person charged with a corrupt practice may, if the circumstances

warrant such finding, be found guilty of an illegal practice (which offence

shall for that purpose be an indictable offence) and any person charged with

an illegal practice may be found guilty of that offence, notwithstanding that

the act constituting the offence amounted to a corrupt practice, and a person

charged with illegal payment, employment or hiring maybe found guilty of

that offence, notwithstanding that the act constituting the offence amounted

to a corrupt or illegal practice.

Other offences

Molestation.

Parliament

1950-15

45.(1) The returning officer may, by means of a red line marked on the

ground, cause to be demarcated an area in the vicinity of any polling station,

and it shall not be permitted during the hours of poll to solicit voters who

are in such an area or to distribute leaflets or other papers to them or to

accost them with a view to such solicitation or distribution or otherwise to

molest them.

(2) A person who, during the hours of poll whilst a voter is in an area

demarcated in pursuance of subsection (1), solicits him or distributes leaflets

or other papers to him or accosts him with a view to such a solicitation or

distribution or otherwise molests him is guilty of an offence and is liable on

summary conviction to a fine of £100.

Destroying or defacing posters.

46. A person who prior to the declaration of results of the poll wilfully

destroys, defaces, tears, adds to, alters, wholly or partly obliterates or

otherwise mutilates or renders illegible a bill, placard or poster having

reference to an election is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary

conviction, to a fine of £100.

Offences in respect of ballot papers and ballot boxes.

47.(1) A person who –

(a) forges or counterfeits or fraudulently defaces or destroys any

nomination paper or any ballot paper or the official mark on

any ballot paper;

(b) without due authority supplies a ballot paper to any person;

ballot paper which he is authorized by law to put in;

(d) fraudulently takes out of the polling station any ballot paper; or

(e) without due authority destroys, takes, opens, or otherwise

interferes with, any ballot box or packet of ballot papers then

in use for the purposes of any election,

is guilty of an offence, and is liable, on conviction, if he be the returning or

presiding officer, or clerk employed at a polling station, to imprisonment for

one year and to a fine of £200, and, if he is any other person, to

imprisonment for six months and to a fine of £100.

Parliament

1950-15

(2) Any attempt to commit any offence specified in this section shall be

punishable in the manner in which the offence itself is punishable.

(3) In any information or prosecution for an offence in relation to the

ballot boxes, ballot papers and other things in use at an election, the property

in such ballot boxes, ballot papers or things, may be stated to be vested in

the returning officer at such election.

Infringement of secrecy.

48.(1) Every person in attendance at a polling station shall maintain and aid

in maintaining the secrecy of voting and shall not, except for some purpose

authorized by law, communicate to any person before the poll is closed any

information as to–

(a) the name or number on the register of any elector who has or

has not applied for a ballot paper or voted at a polling station;

(b) the official mark.

(2) Every person attending at the counting of the votes shall maintain

and aid in maintaining the secrecy of voting and shall not–

(a) ascertain or attempt to ascertain at the counting of votes the

number on the back of any ballot paper; or

(b) communicate any information obtained at the counting of the

votes as to the candidates for whom any votes are given on any

particular ballot paper.

(3) No person whatsoever shall –

(a) interfere or attempt to interfere with a voter when recording his

vote;

(b) obtain or attempt to obtain in a polling station information as to

the candidates for whom a voter in that station is about to vote

or has voted;

obtained in a polling station as to the candidates for whom a

voter in that station is about to vote or has voted, or as to the

number on the back of the ballot paper given to a voter at that

station; or

Parliament

1950-15

(d) directly or indirectly induce a voter to display his ballot paper

after he has marked it so as to make known to any person the

name or names of the candidate or candidates for whom he has

or has not voted.

(4) No person having undertaken to assist a blind voter, or a person

making a postal vote under rules made under section 25, to vote shall

communicate at any time to any person any information as to the candidate

or candidates for whom that voter intends to vote or has voted, or as to the

number on the back of the ballot paper given for the use of that voter.

(5) A person who acts in contravention of this section is guilty of an

offence and is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for six months

and to a fine of £100.

Breaches of Official duty.

49. (1) A person to whom this section applies, or who is for the time being

under a duty to discharge any of the functions of such person, who is,

without reasonable cause, guilty of any act or omission in breach of his

official duty is, subject to subsection (4), liable on summary conviction to

imprisonment for six months and to a fine of £l00.

(2) No person to whom this section applies is liable for breach of his

official duties to any penalty at common law or under any enactment except

as provided by this section, nor shall any action for damages lie in respect of

the breach by any such person of his official duty.

(3) The persons to whom this section applies are any registration officer,

returning officer, presiding officer or clerk or assistant employed by such an

officer in connection with his official duties; and the expression “official

duty” shall for the purposes of this section be construed accordingly but

shall not include duties imposed otherwise than by the law relating to

elections or the registration of electors.

(4) Nothing in this section shall affect any person’s criminal liability

under section 48.

Miscellaneous.

Limitation.

50.(1) A proceeding against a person in respect of the offence of a corrupt

or illegal practice or any other offence under this Act shall be commenced

within one year after the offence was committed, or if it was committed in

reference to an election in respect to which an election petition is presented

shall be commenced within one year after the offence was committed or

within three months after the determination of such election petition,

Parliament

1950-15

whichever period last expires, so that it be commenced within two years

after the offence was committed, and the time so limited by this section

shall, in the case of any proceeding under the Criminal Procedure Act for

any such offence, be substituted for any limitation of time contained in the

last mentioned Act.

(2) For the purposes of this section the issue of a summons, warrant,

writ, or other process shall be deemed to be a commencement of a

proceeding where the service or execution of the same on or against the

alleged offender is prevented by the absconding or concealment or act of the

alleged offender, but save as aforesaid the service or execution of the same

on or against the alleged offender, and not the issue thereof, shall be deemed

to be the commencement of the proceeding.

Duties of Attorney-General.

51. Where information is given to the Attorney-General that any corrupt or

illegal practice has occurred in reference to any election, it shall be his duty

to make such inquiries and institute such prosecutions as the circumstances

of the case appear to him to require.

Removal of incapacity.

52. Where a person has become subject to any incapacity under this Act by

reason of a conviction and any witness who gave evidence against such

incapacitated person upon the proceeding for such conviction is convicted of

perjury in respect of that evidence, the incapacitated person may apply to the

court, and the court, if satisfied that the conviction so far as respects such

person was based upon perjury, may order that such incapacity shall

thenceforth cease and the same shall cease accordingly.

PART IV.

ELECTION PETITIONS

Grounds for petitioning.

53. (1) An election may be questioned by a petition (hereinafter referred to

as an “election petition”) on the ground–

(a) that offences under this Act committed in reference to the

election for the purpose of promoting or procuring the election

of a person thereat have so extensively prevailed that they may

reasonably be supposed to have affected the result;

(b) that the election was avoided by corrupt practices or offences

against this Act committed at the election;

Parliament

1950-15

the election disqualified; or

(d) that he was not duly elected in accordance with the provisions

of this Act.

(2) An election shall not be questioned on any of these grounds except

by an election petition.

Application of English law.

54.(1) Every election petition shall be heard by the court and, subject to the

provisions of this Act and any rules of court made under the powers

conferred by this section, every election petition shall, as nearly as

circumstances admit, be presented, heard and determined according to the

law for the time being in force in England with respect to election petitions.

(2) Rules for the regulation of the practice, procedure and costs of

election petitions and the trial thereof may be made in the like manner as

rules made under and for the purpose of the Supreme Court Act.

Who may petition.

55.(1) An election petition may be presented either by four or more persons

who voted or had a right to vote at the election or by a person alleging

himself to have been a candidate at the election.

(2) Any person whose election is questioned by the petition, and any

returning officer of whose conduct a petition complains, may be made

respondent to such petition.

(3) The petition shall be signed by the petitioner or all the petitioners if

more than one.

(4) Subject to any other provisions of this section an election petition

shall be presented within twenty-one days after the day on which the result

of the election has been declared.

(5) An election petition complaining of the election on the grounds of

any corrupt or illegal practice and specifically alleging that a payment of

money or other reward has been made or promised since the election by a

person elected at the election, or on his account or with his privity, in

pursuance or in furtherance of such corrupt or illegal practice may be

presented at any time within twenty-eight days after the date of the alleged

payment or promise, whether or not any other petition against that person

has been previously presented or tried.

Parliament

1950-15

(6) An election petition complaining of the election on the ground of an

illegal practice may be presented at any time before the expiration of

fourteen days after the day on which the returning officer receives the return

and declaration respecting election expenses by the candidate to whose

election the petition relates:

Provided that this subsection shall apply notwithstanding that the illegal

practice is also a corrupt practice.

Security for costs.

56.(1) At the time of presenting an election petition or within three days

thereafter, the petitioner shall give security for all costs, charges and

expenses which may become payable by him to any witness summoned on

his behalf, or to any respondent.

(2) The security shall be to such amount, not exceeding £100, as the

Chief Justice may direct and shall be given either by a deposit of money into

court or by recognizance entered into before the Registrar of the Supreme

Court by not more than four sureties, or partly in one way and partly in the

other.

(3) If no security is so given no further proceedings shall be had on the

petition.

Trial of petitions.

57.(1) An election petition shall be heard in open court.

(2) At the conclusion of the trial the court shall determine whether the

person whose election is complained of, or any and if so, what other person

was duly elected, or whether the election was void and such determination

shall be final to all intents as to the matters at issue on the petition.

(3) On the trial of a petition, unless the court otherwise directs, any

charge of a corrupt practice or offence against this Act may be enquired into

and evidence in relation thereto received before any proof has been given of

agency on behalf of any candidate in respect of the corrupt practice or

offence.

(4) On the trial of a petition complaining of an undue election and

claiming the seat for some other person, the respondent may give evidence

to prove that that person was not duly elected in the same manner as if he

had presented a petition against the election of such person.

Parliament

1950-15

(5) The trial of a petition shall be proceeded with notwithstanding that

the respondent has ceased to hold the seat his election to which is

questioned by the petition.

(6) On every trial of an election petition the Attorney-General shall by

himself or by his representative attend at the trial and it shall be his duty to

obey any directions given to him by the court with respect to the summoning

and examination of any witness to give evidence on such trial and with

respect to the prosecution by him of offenders.

(7) It shall also be the duty of the Attorney-General, without any

direction from the court, if it appears to him that any person is able to give

material evidence as to the subject of the trial, to cause such person to attend

the trial and with the leave of the court to examine such person as a witness.

(8) It shall also be the duty of the Attorney-General without any

direction from the court, if he thinks it expedient in the interests of justice so

to do, to prosecute any person who appears to him to have been guilty of a

corrupt or illegal practice at an election.

Withdrawal of election petition.

58.(1) A petitioner shall not withdraw an election petition without the leave

of the court.

(2) Before leave for the withdrawal of an election petition is granted

there shall be produced affidavits by all the parties to the petition and their

solicitors, but the court may on cause shown dispense with the affidavit of

any particular person if it seems to the court on special grounds to be just so

to do.

(3) Each affidavit shall state that to the best of the deponent’s

knowledge and belief, no agreement or terms of any kind whatsoever has or

have been made and no undertaking has been entered into, in relation to the

withdrawal of the petition; but if any lawful agreement has been made with

respect to the withdrawal of the petition, the affidavit shall set forth that

agreement and shall make the foregoing statement subject to what appears

from the affidavit.

(4) The affidavits of the applicant and his solicitor shall further state the

ground on which the petition is sought to be withdrawn.

(5) A person who makes any agreement or terms, or enters into any

undertaking, in relation to the withdrawal of an election petition, and such

agreement, terms or undertaking is or are for the withdrawal of the election

petition in consideration of any payment, or in consideration that the seat

shall at any time be vacated, or in consideration of the withdrawal of any

Parliament

1950-15

other election petition, or is or are (whether lawful or unlawful) not

mentioned in the affidavits is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary

conviction to imprisonment for twelve months and to a fine of £200.

(6) Copies of the affidavits shall be delivered to the Attorney-General a

reasonable time before the application for the withdrawal is heard and the

court may hear the Attorney-General or his representative in opposition to

the allowance of the withdrawal of the petition and shall have power to

receive the evidence on oath of any person or persons whose evidence the

Attorney-General or his representative may consider material.

(7) On the hearing of the application any person who might have been a

petitioner in respect of the election may apply to the court to be substituted

as a petitioner, and the court may, if it thinks fit, substitute him accordingly.

(8) If the proposed withdrawal is in the opinion of the court–

(a) the result of any agreement, terms or undertaking prohibited by

this section; or

(b) induced by any corrupt bargain or consideration, the court may

by order direct that the security given on behalf of the original

petitioner shall remain as security for any costs that may be

incurred by the substituted petitioner, and that to the extent of

the sum named in the security, the original petitioner and his

sureties be liable to pay the costs of the substituted petitioner.

(9) If the court does not so direct, then security to the same amount as

would be required in the case of a new petition, and subject to the like

conditions, shall be given on behalf of the substituted petitioner before he

proceeds with his petition and within the prescribed time after the order of

substitution.

(10) Subject as aforesaid, a substituted petitioner shall, as nearly as may

be, stand in the same position and be subject to the same liabilities as the

original petitioner.

(11) If a petition is withdrawn the petitioner shall be liable to pay the

costs of the respondent.

Exoneration of candidate where agent guilty of offence.

59. Where upon the trial of an election petition, the court finds that a

candidate at such election has been guilty by his agents of the offence of

treating, undue influence or illegal practice in reference to such election, and

the candidate proves to the court –

Parliament

1950-15

(a) that no corrupt or illegal practice was committed at such

election by the candidate or with his knowledge or consent, and

the offences committed were committed without the sanction

or connivance of such candidate;

(b) that all reasonable means for preventing the commission of

corrupt and illegal practices were taken by and on behalf of the

candidate;

limited character; and

(d) that in all other respects the election was free from any corrupt

or illegal practice on the part of such candidate and of his

agent,

then the election of such candidate shall not, by reason of the offences found

to have been committed, be void, nor shall the candidate be subject to any

incapacity under this Act.

No obligation on voter to disclose vote.

60. No person who has voted at an election shall, in any legal proceeding for

the purpose of questioning the validity of the election or return, be required

to state for whom he has voted.

PART V.

POWERS AND PRIVILEGES OF THE PARLIAMENT.

Privileges.

Freedom of speech and debate.

61. There shall be freedom of speech and debate in the Parliament. Such

freedom of speech and debate shall not be liable to be questioned in any

court or place outside the Parliament.

Immunity from legal proceedings.

62. No civil or criminal proceedings may be instituted against any member

for words spoken before, or written in a report to, the Parliament or to a

committee thereof or by reason of any matter or thing brought by him

therein by petition, Bill, resolution, motion or otherwise.

Power to exclude strangers.

Parliament

1950-15

63.(1) No stranger shall be entitled, as of right, to enter or remain within

the precincts of the Parliament Chamber and the Speaker or any officer

authorized in that behalf by the Speaker may at any time order any stranger

to withdraw therefrom.

(2) The Speaker may issue such orders as he may in his discretion deem

necessary or desirable for the regulation of the admittance of strangers to,

and the conduct of strangers within the precincts of the Parliament Chamber.

(3) The exhibition in a conspicuous position in the precincts of the

Parliament Chamber of a copy, duly authenticated by the Clerk, of any

orders made by the Speaker under this section shall be deemed to be

sufficient notice to all persons affected thereby.

No evidence of proceedings to be given without leave.

64.(1) No member or officer and no person employed to take or transcribe

minutes of evidence before the Parliament or any committee shall give

evidence elsewhere respecting the contents of such minutes of evidence or

of the contents of any document laid before the Parliament or committee, as

the case may be, or respecting any proceedings or examination held before

the Parliament or committee, as the case may be, without the special leave

of the Parliament first had and obtained.

(2) The special leave referred to in subsection (1) may be given during a

recess or adjournment by the Speaker.

Immunity from process within the precincts.

65. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, no process issued by any court

in Gibraltar or outside Gibraltar in exercise of its civil jurisdiction shall be

served or executed within the precincts of the Parliament Chamber while the

Parliament or a committee is sitting or through the Speaker or any officer of

the Parliament, nor shall any member be arrested on civil process, save by

leave of the Speaker first obtained, while he is within the precincts of the

Parliament Chamber and while the Parliament or a committee is sitting.

Procuring of evidence.

Power to order attendance of witness.

66.(1) The Parliament or any standing committee may, subject to the

provisions of sections 69, 70 and 72, order any person to attend before the

Parliament or before such committee and to give evidence or to produce any

paper, book, record or document in the possession or under the control of

such person.

Parliament

1950-15

(2) The powers conferred by subsection (1) on a standing committee

may be exercised by any other committee which is specially authorized by

the Parliament to exercise such powers.

Issue of summons.

67. (1) Any order to attend to give evidence or to produce documents before

the Parliament or an authorized committee shall be notified to the person

required to attend or to produce documents by a summons under the hand of

the clerk issued by the direction of the Speaker.

(2) In every summons under subsection (1) there shall be stated the time

when and the place where the person summoned is required to attend and

the particular documents which he is required to produce. The summons

shall be served on the person mentioned therein by delivering to him a copy

thereof or by leaving a copy thereof at his usual or last known place of

abode in Gibraltar with some adult person; and there shall be paid or

tendered to the person so summoned, such sum for his expenses as may be

specified by standing order.

(3) A summons under this section may be served by an officer or by a

police officer.

Examination on oath.

68.(1) The Parliament or any authorized committee may require that any

facts, matters and things relating to the subject of inquiry before the

Parliament or such committee be verified or otherwise ascertained by the

oral examination of witnesses, and may cause any such witnesses to be

examined upon oath.

(2) An oath required to be taken under the provisions of this section may

be administered by the Clerk or by any other person appointed by the

Parliament for that purpose, or, in the case of a witness before a committee,

by the chairman of the committee or by the member presiding in the absence

of the chairman, or by the clerk to the committee.

Objections to answering questions or producing papers.

69.(1) Where any person ordered to attend to give evidence or to produce

any paper, book, record or document before the Parliament refuses to

answer any question that may be put to him or to produce any such paper,

book, record or document on the ground that the same is of a private nature

and does not affect the subject of inquiry, the Speaker may excuse the

answering of such question or the production of such paper, book, record or

document, or may order the answering or production thereof.

Parliament

1950-15

(2) Where a person ordered to attend to give evidence or to produce any

paper, book, record or document before any authorized committee refuses to

answer any question that may be put to him or to produce any such paper,

book, record or document on the ground that the same is of a private nature

and does not affect the subject of inquiry, the chairman of the committee

may report such refusal to the Speaker with the reasons therefor; and the

Speaker may thereupon excuse the answering of such question or the

production of such paper, book, record or document or may order the

answering or production thereof.

Privileges of witnesses.

70. (1) Every person summoned to attend to give evidence or to produce any

paper, book, record or document before the Parliament or an authorized

committee shall be entitled, in respect of such evidence or the disclosure of

any communication or the production of any such paper, book, record or

document, to the same rights and privileges as before a court of law.

(2) Except with the general or special consent of the Governor, no

public officer shall –

(a) produce before the Parliament or a committee any paper, book,

record or document; or

(b) give before the Parliament or a committee evidence on any

matter,

which relates to the correspondence of any naval, military, air force or civil

department or to any matter affecting the public service. Secondary evidence

shall not be received by or produced before the Parliament or a committee of

the contents of any such paper, book, record or document.

Issue of certificates to protect witnesses.

71.(1) Every witness before the Parliament or an authorized committee who

shall answer fully and faithfully any questions put to him by the Parliament

or such committee to its satisfaction shall be entitled to receive a certificate

stating that such witness was upon his examination so required to answer

and did answer any such questions.

(2) Every certificate under subsection (1) shall, in the case of a witness

before the Parliament, be under the hand of the Speaker, and in the case of a

witness before a committee, be under the hand of the chairman thereof.

(3) On production of such certificate to any court of law such court shall

stay any proceedings, civil or criminal, except for a charge under section

Parliament

1950-15

244 of the Criminal Offences Act 1 , against such witness for any act or thing

done by him before the time and revealed by the evidence of such witness,

and may, in its discretion, award to such witness the expenses to which he

may have been put.

Usage of Parliament.

72. Where at any time any question arises in the Parliament or in a

committee regarding –

(a) the right or power of the Parliament or committee to hear,

admit or receive oral evidence; or

(b) the right or power of the Parliament or committee to peruse or

examine any paper, book, record or document or to summon,

direct or call upon any persons to produce any paper, book,

record or document before the Parliament or committee; or

Parliament or committee) to refuse to produce any paper, book,

record or document or to lay any paper, book, record or

document before the Parliament or committee,

that question shall, subject to the preceding provisions of this Act, and

except in so far as express provision is made in those provisions for the

determination of that question, be determined in accordance with the usage

and practice of the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom

of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Offences.

False evidence.

73. A person who before the Parliament or any authorized committee

intentionally gives a false answer to any question material to the subject of

inquiry which may be put to him during the course of any examination is

guilty of an offence against section 244 of the Criminal Offences Act 1 .

False documents.

74. A person who presents to the Parliament or to any committee any false,

untrue, fabricated or falsified document with intent to deceive the

Parliament, where such presentation does not constitute an offence under

section 73, is, liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for six months

and to a fine of £100.

1 1960-17

Parliament

1950-15

Interference with witnesses.

75. A person who –

(a) tampers with, deters, threatens, molests, beguiles or in any way

unduly influences any witness in regard to any evidence to be

given by him before the Parliament or any committee; or

(b) threatens, molests or in any way punishes, damnifies or injures

or attempts to punish, damnify or injure any person for having

given evidence before the Parliament or any committee or on

account of any evidence which he has given before the

Parliament or any committee,

is guilty of an offence and is liable on conviction to imprisonment for twelve

months and to a fine of £500.

Corrupt and improper practices.

76.(1) A person who offers to any member or officer or to any person who

is an employer, a partner or in the service of any member, either directly or

indirectly, any bribe, fee, compensation, gift or reward in order to influence

such member or officer in his conduct as such member or officer or for or in

respect of the promotion of or opposition to any Bill, resolution, matter, rule

or thing submitted to, or intended to be submitted to, the Parliament, is

guilty of an offence.

(2) A member or officer or any person who is an employer, a partner or

in the service of any member who demands, accepts or receives, directly or

indirectly, any bribe, fee, compensation, gift or reward the offering of which

is or would be an offence under this section is likewise guilty of an offence.

(3) A person who commits an offence against this section is liable on

conviction to imprisonment for three years and to a fine of £500.

(4) In any proceedings against any person for an offence against this

section, the court may, if it finds the offence proved –

(a) order that the value or the amount of any bribe, fee,

compensation, gift or reward offered or accepted or received in

contravention of this section shall be forfeit; or

(b) order that the amount or the value of any bribe, fee,

compensation, gift or reward accepted or received in

contravention of this section shall be repaid by the person

accepting or receiving the same, or by the person on whose

Parliament

1950-15

behalf the same was accepted or received, to the person from

whom it was accepted or received, or to the person on whose

behalf such latter person was acting.

Contempt.

77. A person who–

(a) having been called upon to give evidence before the Parliament

or an authorized committee thereof refuses to be sworn or

make an affirmation; or

(b) being a witness misconducts himself; or

Parliament Chamber during a sitting of the Parliament or of a

committee thereof; or

(d) shows disrespect in speech or manner towards the Speaker or

person presiding; or

(e) commits any other act of intentional disrespect to or with

reference to the proceedings of the Parliament or of a

committee of the Parliament or to any person presiding at such

proceedings,

is guilty of an offence.

Disobedience.

78. A person who wilfully and without lawful cause fails to comply with, or

contravenes, any order made under section 63 or section 66, or who wilfully

fails to obey any other order of the Parliament whereby the Parliament is

obstructed in the performance of its functions is guilty of an offence;

Provided that no offence is committed under this section unless the

Speaker or an officer has drawn to the attention of the person concerned the

fact that such failure or contravention is contrary to such order, and the

person thereafter continues in such failure or contravention.

Breaches of confidence, etc.

79. A person who–

(a) publishes, save by the general or special leave of the

Parliament, a report of any proceedings of the Parliament or

Parliament

1950-15

any committee when such proceedings have not been held in

public; or

(b) publishes any false or scandalous libel on the Parliament or any

report which wilfully misrepresents in any way any

proceedings of the Parliament or any committee; or

Parliament, any paper, report or other document prepared

expressly for submission to the Parliament before the same has

been laid on the Table of the Parliament; or

(d) prints or causes to be printed a copy of any Act now or

hereafter in force or a copy of any report, paper or journals of

the Parliament as purporting to have been printed by the

Government Printers, or by or under the authority of the

Parliament, or of the Speaker, and the same is not so printed; or

(e) tenders in evidence any such copy as purporting to be so

printed knowing the same was not so printed, is guilty of an

offence and is liable, on conviction, to imprisonment for twelve

months and to a fine of £250.

Assaulting, etc., members and officers.

80. A person who –

(a) assaults, obstructs or insults any member or officer going to or

from the precincts of the Parliament Chamber; or

(b) endeavours to compel either directly or indirectly any member

by force, insult or menace to declare himself in favour of or

against, any Bill, resolution, matter, rule or thing submitted to,

or intended to be submitted to, the Parliament; or

the execution of his duty as such officer; or

(d) sends to any member any threatening letter, or challenges any

member to a fight, on account of his conduct as such member;

(e) creates or joins in any disturbance which interrupts or is likely

to interrupt the proceedings of the Parliament while it is sitting;

Parliament

1950-15

(f) publishes or prints any libel on any member concerning his

character or conduct as a member and with regard to actions

performed or words uttered by him in the course of the

transaction of the business of the Parliament,

is guilty of an offence.

Penalties.

81. For every offence under this Part for which no other penalty is specially

provided the offender is liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for

three months and to a fine of £50.

Sanction of Attorney-General.

82. No prosecution shall be instituted for an offence under this Part, other

than an offence under paragraph (c) of section 77 or paragraph (a), (c) or (e)

of section 80, except by the Attorney-General upon information given to

him in writing by the Speaker.

Powers of the Parliament in cases of contempt.

83.(1) Where any member commits any contempt of the Parliament

whether specified in section 77 or otherwise, the Parliament may, by

resolution, either direct the Speaker to reprimand such member or suspend

him from the service of the Parliament for such period as it may determine:

Provided that such period shall not extend beyond the last day of the

meeting next following that in which the resolution is passed, or of the

session in which the resolution is passed, whichever shall first occur.

(2) No salary or allowance payable to a member of the Parliament for

his service as such shall be paid in respect of any period during which he is

suspended from the service of the Parliament under the provisions of this

section.

(3) If any person not being a member commits a contempt whether

specified in section 77 or otherwise, the Parliament may, by resolution,

direct that the Speaker shall order such person to appear before the

Parliament and that he shall, upon such attendance, reprimand him at the

Bar of the Parliament.

Miscellaneous.

Commons journals as evidence.

Parliament

1950-15

84. Subject to the provisions of this Act, a copy of the journals of the

Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and

Northern Ireland printed or purporting to be printed by the order or by the

printer of such Commons House shall be received as prima facie evidence

without proof of its being such copy upon any inquiry touching the

privileges, immunities and powers of the Parliament or of any member

thereof.

Journals, etc., of the Parliament as evidence.

85. Upon any inquiry touching the privileges, immunities and powers of the

Parliament or of any member, any copy of the journals, reports or Standing

Orders of the Parliament printed or purporting to be printed by the

Government Printers, or any copy of the journals, reports or Standing Orders

duly authenticated as such under the hand of the clerk, shall be admitted as

evidence of such journals, reports or Standing Orders in all courts and places

without any further proof being given.

Absence of the Speaker.

86. The powers and privileges vested in the Speaker by this Act shall, in the

absence of the Speaker for a reason other than a reason mentioned in section

26(5) of the Constitution, be vested during a sitting of the Parliament in the

person appointed by the Parliament to preside at that sitting of the

Parliament (and any such person may be a member of the Parliament).

Suspension of members.

87. A member who has been suspended from the service of the Parliament

shall not enter or remain within the precincts of the Parliament Chamber

whilst such suspension remains in force, and if any member is found within

the precincts of the Parliament Chamber in contravention of this section, he

may be forcibly removed therefrom by any officer of the Parliament and no

proceedings shall lie against such officer in respect of such removal.

Powers supplementary.

88. The powers of the Parliament and the Speaker under this Act shall be

supplementary to any powers conferred by the Gibraltar Constitution Order

2006 or any Order in Council amending or replacing it or by Standing

Orders.

Exclusion of court’s jurisdiction.

89. Neither the Parliament, the Speaker nor any officer shall be subject to

the jurisdiction of any court in respect of the exercise of any power

Parliament

1950-15

conferred on or vested in the Parliament the Speaker or such officer by or

under this Part.

PART VI.

PENSIONS.

Application.

89A. This Part does not apply to a person who, after 20 October 2015, has

become an elected member for the first time.

Alternative pension scheme.

89B. A person who, but for the operation of section 89A would be entitled

to a pension under this Part shall be offered, by the Chief Secretary an

opportunity to join such pension scheme as may be available to officers in

the public service.

Interpretation.

90.(1) In this Part, unless the context otherwise requires–

“allowance”, in relation to an elected member, in respect of any

service by him as such, means the amount that he was entitled

to receive by way of personal remuneration for service, as

Speaker, ordinary elected member, Chief Minister, minister, or

Leader of the Opposition; but does not in any case include any

allowance by way of payment or reimbursement for his

expenses;

“elected member” means the Speaker of the Parliament, an ordinary

elected member of the Parliament, the Chief Minister, any

minister, or the Leader of the Opposition;

“notional annual allowance”, in relation to any person, means the

notional annual allowance of that person as an elected member,

computed in accordance with section 93, immediately before

the last day on which he ceases for the time being to be an

elected member;

“pension” includes a pension that is re-computed under section 95.

(2) In this Part, references to service as an elected member include–

(a) service as an elected member at any time before the 20th day of

December, 1979; and

Parliament

1950-15

(b) service as an elected member of the Legislative Council on or

after the 1st day of August, 1964–

but do not include service before the 1st day of August, 1964.

(3) For the purposes of this Part, where an elected member vacates his

seat in the Parliament by operation of section 29(1)(b) of the Constitution,

he shall be deemed to have ceased to be an elected member with the

expiration of the last day on which he has previously attended a meeting of

the Parliament.

(4) For the purposes of this Part, a person becomes entitled to a pension

when he qualifies under section 91(1), notwithstanding that by reason of

section 91(2) the pension is not for the time being payable to him.

Entitlement to pension.

91.(1) Subject to the provisions of this Part, every person who–

(a) has served as an elected member for a period or periods

(whether continuous or not and whether before or after the 20th

day of December, 1979) being in the aggregate not less than 90

months; and

(b) has served as an elected member in the third or any subsequent

Assembly of the Parliament–

shall, on ceasing to be an elected member be entitled to a pension under this

Act.

(2) Notwithstanding subsection (1), no pension shall become payable

under this Act before the person who is entitled to it has attained the age of

55 years.

Computation of pension.

92.(1) Subject to subsection (2), the pension to which a person shall be

entitled under this Act shall, in respect of each completed month during

which he has served as an elected member be at the rate per annum of 1/504

of his notional annual allowance as an elected member.

(2) No pension under this Act shall exceed a rate per annum of 2 /3 of the

notional annual allowance of the person who is entitled to the pension.

Computation of notional annual allowance.

Parliament

1950-15

93.(1) Subject to subsections (2), (3), and (4), the notional annual

allowance of an elected member shall be–

12 b a x

where–

“a” is the sum of all allowances that he has received in respect of his

service; and

“b” is the number of completed months that he has served.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), before the notional annual

allowance of an elected member is computed, the allowances that he has

received in respect of his service shall be first converted to the

corresponding rates of allowance for such service that are payable

immediately before he ceases to be an elected member.

(3) In subsection (1), in any case where a person has served as an elected

member for more than 336 completed months–

(a) the factor “a” shall be the greatest sum that he has received in

any period of 336 completed months of his service (the

allowances actually received being first converted in

accordance with subsection (2)); and

(b) the factor “b” shall be 336

(4) So long as any allowance is exempt from the payment of income tax

it shall, in being taken into account under this section in the computation of

the notional annual allowance, after being converted under this section, be

increased by 33 1 /3 per cent.

Reduced pension and gratuity.

94.(1) A person may, at his option, exercisable in accordance with

subsection (2), be paid in lieu of a pension computed under section 92–

(a) a reduced pension together with a gratuity equal to twelve and a

half times the amount by which such pension is reduced; or

(b) a gratuity equal to twelve and a half times the amount of such

pension.

(2) An option exercisable in accordance with this section–

Parliament

1950-15

(a) shall be exercisable and, if exercised, may be revoked on or

before the date on which the person becomes entitled to the

pension under this Act or at any time before he begins to

receive the pension under this Act; and

(b) shall be exercised or revoked by notice in writing addressed to

the Clerk; and

on which such notice is received by the Clerk.

Effect of re-election.

95.(1) Where a person who is entitled to a pension under this Act is

subsequently re-elected as an elected member, the pension shall cease to be

payable to him during the period that he continues to be an elected member.

(2) Where a person to whom subsection (1) applies next ceases again to

be an elected member the pension to which he was entitled before his re-

election shall be re-computed ab initio to take into account the further

period of service, and he shall be entitled to the pension as re-computed but

in any event being at a rate not less than that which he was entitled before

his re-election.

(3) Where, in respect of the pension to which he was entitled before his

re-election, a person did not exercise the option referred to in section 94, he

may not exercise that option in respect of any re-computation under this

section.

(4) Where, in respect of the pension to which he was entitled before his

re-election, a person did exercise the option referred to in section 94, he

shall be deemed also to have exercised the same option in respect of the

period of his service after his re-election and before he next ceases to be an

elected member.

(5) This section shall apply in respect of any subsequent re-election of a

person in the same manner as it applies to his first re-election after he

becomes entitled to a pension under this Act.

Gratuity on death.

96.(1) Where a person who has served as an elected member for not less

than 90 months dies before attaining the age of 55 years (whether or not he

is serving as an elected member at the date of his death), there shall be

payable to his legal personal representative a sum equal to the maximum

gratuity to which the deceased person would have been entitled if he had not

Parliament

1950-15

died but had on the day following the actual date of his death exercised the

option referred to in section 94.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1), a person who dies in service shall

be deemed to have ceased to be an elected member on the day following the

actual date of his death.

Members dying of injuries or diseases contracted on duty.

97.(1) Where–

(a) an elected member–

(i) is injured in the actual discharge of his duty as or while

travelling on duty as an elected member and the injury is

not wholly or mainly caused or seriously aggravated by

his own serious and culpable negligence or misconduct;

(ii) contracts a disease to which he is exposed by the nature

of his duty and which is not wholly or mainly caused or

seriously aggravated by his own serious and culpable

negligence or misconduct; and

(b) in either case, the injury has occurred or the disease has been

contracted on or after the 1st day of August, 1964–

and the elected member dies as a direct result thereof, and such death occurs

within 7 years of the date when he was injured or contracted the disease,

there shall be payable to his legal personal representative, in lieu of any sum

under section 96, a sum equal to the maximum gratuity to which the

deceased elected member would have been entitled if–

(i) he had not died but had ceased to be an elected member

on the day following the actual date of his death, and had

exercised the option referred to in section 94; and

(ii) the reference in section 91(1)(a) to 90 months were a

reference to the actual length of time that he has served

as an elected member; and

(iii) the reference in section 91(2) to 55 years were a

reference to his actual age at the date of his death–

or a sum equal to his notional annual allowance, whichever is the greater

sum.

Parliament

1950-15

(2) In addition to the sum payable under subsection (1), the Governor

may grant in respect of the dependants of the deceased elected member the

pensions which could have been granted under the Pensions Act to the

corresponding dependants of an officer in public service under the

Government dying as a result of injuries received or disease contracted in

the discharge of his duty (not being injuries received while travelling by air

in pursuance of official instructions), subject to the following modifications;

(a) references to the elected member’s notional annual allowance

shall be substituted for references to annual pensionable

emoluments; and

(b) if the deceased elected member leaves a widow, the rate of

pension granted to her shall not exceed 10/60 of his notional

annual allowance at the date of his injury or £1000, whichever

is the greater, and the pensions that may be granted to other

dependants shall be calculated accordingly; and

or to other public service; and

(d) the Governor shall have the same powers with respect to

granting, withholding, reducing and re-granting, and otherwise

in relation to such pensions, as he has in corresponding

circumstances in the case of dependants of the officers referred

to above.

Members injured or contracting diseases on duty.

98.(1) Where–

(a) an elected member–

(i) is injured in the actual discharge of his duty as or while

travelling on duty as an elected member and the injury is

not wholly or mainly caused or seriously aggravated by

his own serious and culpable negligence or misconduct;

(ii) contracts a disease to which he is exposed by the nature

of his duty and which is not wholly or mainly caused or

seriously aggravated by his own serious and culpable

negligence or misconduct; and

(b) the injury has occurred or the disease has been contracted on or

after the 1st day of August, 1964; and

Parliament

1950-15

(d) his condition is such that he is no longer reasonably able to

perform the functions of an elected member; and

(e) his condition was caused or materially accelerated by the injury

or disease–

he shall, on so ceasing to be an elected member, be entitled to a pension

under this Act to the same extent as he would be if the reference in section

91(1)(a) to 90 months were a reference to the actual length of time that he

has served as an elected member and the reference in section 91(2) to 55

years were a reference to his actual age at the date on which he ceases to be

an elected member.

(2) Where an elected member has become or becomes entitled to a

pension by virtue of subsection (1), he shall be entitled to an additional

pension calculated by reference to the degree by which his capacity to

contribute to his own support is impaired, at the annual rate of the

appropriate proportion of his notional annual allowance at the date of his

injury according to the following scale:

(a) slight impairment: 5 /60

(b) impairment: l0

/60

(d) total destruction: 20

/60.

(3) The additional pension specified in subsection (2) may be reduced to

such extent as the Governor thinks reasonable where the injury or disease is

not the cause or sole cause of the person’s ceasing to be an elected member.

(4) Where any benefit is payable to an elected member to whom this

section applies, under the Social Security (Employment Injuries Insurance)

Act, in consequence of an injury or disease for which he receives an

additional pension under subsection (2), the Governor may withhold any

such additional pension or reduce it to such extent as he thinks reasonable.

(5) Where the Governor is satisfied that damages have been or will be

recovered by an elected member to whom this section applies in respect of

an injury or disease for which he receives an additional pension under

subsection (2), the Governor may withhold the additional pension or reduce

it to such extent as he thinks reasonable having regard to the amount of

those damages, whether or not–

Parliament

1950-15

(a) proceedings have been instituted to enforce the claim; or

(b) the damages have been paid pursuant to a judgment or order of

a court, or by way of settlement or compromise of the claim.

(6) Section 94 shall apply in respect of any pension payable under this

section.

Pension not assignable.

99. A pension or gratuity under this Act shall not be assignable or

chargeable with debts or other liabilities.

Cessation of pension on disqualification.

100. Where any person who is entitled to a pension under this Act

subsequently ceases to be qualified to be elected as an elected member, by

reason of any ground specified in either of paragraphs (f) and (i) of section

28(1) of the Constitution, the pension and any gratuity under section 94 shall

cease to be payable to him for so long as he is so disqualified.

Increase of pension.

101.(1) Every pension to which a person is entitled under this Act shall be

increased in accordance with this section where there has been an increase in

the cost of living after he has become entitled to the pension.

(2) The rate of every pension to which a person is entitled under this Act

shall be reviewed by the Financial Secretary as soon as may be on or after

the 1st day of October in every year.

(3) Where the Financial Secretary determines that the cost of living has

risen by 2 per cent or more from the 1st day of July in the preceding year,

the rate of the pension shall be increased with effect from the 1st day of July

in the year of review or, as the case may require, from such later date in the

year of review as the entitlement actually arises, in the proportion (to the

nearest 1 /10 of one per cent) in which the cost of living has risen during that

period.

(4) For the purposes of this section, the question whether there has or

has not been a rise in the cost of living shall be determined solely by

reference to the index of retail price as shown in the index produced by the

Government of Gibraltar.

(5) The amount of any increase awarded in accordance with the

provisions of this section shall not be taken into account for the purposes of

section 92(2).

Parliament

1950-15

(6) Notwithstanding the preceding subsections of this section, where a

pension becomes payable to a person who has attained the age of 55 years, it

shall not thereafter be increased in accordance with this section until he

attains the age of 60 years.

Charge on Consolidated Fund.

102. There shall be charged upon and paid out of the Consolidated Fund,

without further appropriation than this section, all such sums of money as

become payable under this Part.

Parliament

1950-15

SCHEDULE 1.

Section 9

CLASSES OF PUBLIC OFFICERS WHO MAY BE

ELECTED AS MEMBERS.

1.Holders of any public office under the Crown in right of Her Majesty’s

Government in the United Kingdom.

___________________________

SCHEDULE 2

Section 10(1)

CLASSES OF PUBLIC OFFICERS WHO MAY BE

CANDIDATES FOR ELECTION.

1. Holders of any public office under the Crown in right of its Government

of Gibraltar, being–

(a) Deleted

(b) employment in any of the following grades, namely–

(i) the administrative and executive grades,

(ii) the messengerial grades,

(iii) Deleted

(iv) typist, personal secretary, senior personal secretary,

(v) Deleted

(vi) professional and technology officer grades,

(vii) helper, Medical and Public Health Department

(Physiotherapy and Speech Therapy Centre),

(viii) resident supervisor, John Mackintosh Hall,

Parliament

1950-15

(ix) fire control operator, senior fire control operator,

(x) seaman/mechanic, coxswain, engine driver ‘A’, Port

Department,

(xi) junior medical laboratory scientific officer,

(xii) Deleted

(xiii) technical grade 1,

(xiv) enrolled nurse,

(xv) vehicle escort/welfare assistant, Education Department,

(xvi) Deleted

(xvii) radiography helper,

(xviii) Deleted

(xix) nursing auxiliary,

(xx) nursery assistant, Education Department,

(xxi) postman/postwoman,

(xxii) Deleted

(xxiii) telephonist,

(xxiv) Deleted

(xxv) Deleted

(xxvi) the teaching grades.

Parliament

1950-15

SCHEDULE 3.

Section 10(2)

FORM OF UNDERTAKING.

Parliament Act.

I, (full name), of (residential address), (occupation), being the holder of (or

acting as the holder of)* the following public office, namely (specify public

office), undertake pursuant to section 10 of the Parliament Act, to relinquish

and cease to act in any public office as defined in section 78(1) of the

Constitution (other than any public office referred to or of a class referred to

in section 9 of the Act) if I am elected as an elected member of the

Parliament.

Dated this day of 20 .

Signature:....................................

Witness:......................................

(Head of Department or senior public officer).

* Delete as appropriate.