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Death of candidate.
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32.—(1) Where, at any time during the period beginning seventy-two hours before the adjournment of a Dáil election for the purpose of taking a poll and ending on the commencement of the poll, the returning officer becomes satisfied that a candidate has died, the following provisions shall have effect:
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(a) the returning officer shall notify the Minister and the Clerk of Dáil Éireann of the death of the candidate and at the same time, if notice of the poll has been given, he shall countermand the poll;
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(b) the returning officer shall give public notice that all acts done in connection with the election (other than the nomination of the surviving candidates) are void and that a fresh election will be held;
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(c) all the proceedings for the election shall be commenced afresh, but a fresh nomination or consent shall not be necessary in respect of any candidate who stood nominated at the time when notification of the death of the candidate was sent to the Minister;
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(d) in the fresh election, the last day for receiving nominations shall be the last day of the period which consists of the nine days (disregarding any excluded day) next following the day of the sending of the notification of the death of the candidate to the Minister;
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(e) the polling day at the fresh election shall be fixed by the Minister;
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(f) for the purpose of Rule 1 of Part I of the Fifth Schedule to the Principal Act in relation to the fresh election, the returning officer shall be deemed to have received the writ on the day after the day on which he sends notification of the death of the candidate to the Minister.
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(2) Where, at any time after the commencement of the poll at a Dáil election in a constituency and before the close of such poll, the returning officer becomes satisfied that a candidate has died—
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(a) all votes cast at the election in the constituency shall be disregarded and the ballot papers destroyed,
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(b) the returning officer shall notify the Minister and the Clerk of Dáil Éireann of the death of the candidate,
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(c) the provisions of paragraphs (b) to (f) of subsection (1) of this section shall apply.
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(3) The death of a candidate at a Dáil election in circumstances other than those referred to in subsections (1) and (2) of this section shall not invalidate his nomination or any preference recorded for him and, if he is elected, his election shall not be invalidated by reason of his death, but he shall be deemed to have vacated his membership of the Dáil immediately after his election.
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(4) Where a poll is countermanded under this section, all ballot papers issued to postal voters shall be disregarded and the returning officer shall destroy without opening all ballot papers received by him for inclusion in the countermanded poll.
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