Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act, 1999

Local election petition.

23.—The Local Elections (Petitions and Disqualifications) Act, 1974 , is hereby amended:

(a) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (3) of section 4:

“(3A) Where a petition alleges an irregularity or non-compliance with any provision of the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act, 1999, whether before or after the result of the local election was declared by the returning officer, notwithstanding the fact that another petition relating to the same election may have been previously presented or tried, the petition may be presented within the twenty eight days next after the publication of a notice by a local authority under section 19 (2).”,

(b) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (1) of section 5:

“(1A) A local election shall not be declared invalid because of a non-compliance with any provision of the Local Elections (Disclosure of Donations and Expenditure) Act, 1999, or mistake in the use of forms provided for in regulations made under that Act, where it appears to the court that a candidate, national agent, designated person (within the meaning of that Act) or person to whom section 6 (7) of that Act applies, as the case may be, complied with the principles laid down in that Act taken as a whole and that such non-compliance or mistake did not materially affect the result of the election.”.