Introduce fixed duration campaign lengths for By-Elections

[PaulJRobinson]

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[Floppy]

👍

Are current general election campaigns fixed length? Would this be appropriate to apply to all elections?

[PaulJRobinson]

The Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011 prevented governments from calling
general elections at a time of their own choosing to maximise electoral
advantage. The duration of a general election campaign has remained fixed,
and isn't an issue of contention (to my knowledge).

But when an MP dies, or is automatically removed from office because of a
serious criminal offence the incumbent party currently gets to choose when
to 'move the writ' which triggers the subsequent by-election. Until they do
this an MP of the same party in a neighbouring constituency is allowed to
run constituency matters, and the seat essentially remains vacant until the
by-election is called. The incumbant party may choose to move the writ
immediately to prevent a long campaign and prevent opposition parties from
gaining on them (eg Wythenshawe and Sale East by-election being held today
when it is alleged the Labour Party wanted a quick campaign to hinder other
parties from catching them up) or they may not have a candidate ready and
may prefer not to move the writ for some time. The rules currently allow up
a 3 month delay to the by-election at which point it's automatically
triggered - although apparently there have been some instances of 6 month
delays.

http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/by-elections/

The point is that a by-election should be called automatically within a set
period of the seat becoming vacant, and not left for the the incumbant
party to decide when it suits them.

with kind regards,
Paul Robinson

about.me/pauljrobinson

On 13 February 2014 14:52, James Smith notifications@github.com wrote:

[image: 👍]

Are current general election campaigns fixed length? Would this be
appropriate to apply to all elections?

Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//pull/101#issuecomment-34985014
.

[philipjohn]

👍

[Floppy]

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