ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

SECTION

PART I
PRELIMINARY

PART II
GENERAL

PART III
REGISTRATION OF VOTERS

PART IV
THE ELECTORAL BROADCASTING COUNCIL

PART V
ELECTIONS

Writs of Election

Nominations

Method of Election

Contested Elections

The Poll

Procedure on Close of Poll

Final Proceedings in Contested and Uncontested Elections

PART VI
PROCEEDINGS IN THE HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY

PART VII
ELECTION PETITIONS AND INQUIRIES INTO QUALIFICATIONS

PART IX
VARIOUS OFFENCES

PART X
MISCELLANEOUS

FIRST SCHEDULE - Registration Forms.

SECOND SCHEDULE - Election Forms.

CHAPTER 7

PARLIAMENTARY ELECTIONS

[Assent 10th January, 1992]
[Commencement 16th March, 1992]

"candidate" means any person who stands nominated as a candidate for election for any constituency, and "intending candidate" means any person seeking such nomination for election;

"constituency" has the meaning assigned thereto in Article 68 of the Constitution;

"corrupt practice" means any offence against the provisions of section 96 or section 98;

"current register" means the register in force for the time being in accordance with the provisions of section 13 or 14;

"day" includes every day other than a Sunday or a public holiday;

"election" means the election in accordance with the provisions of this Act of a Member of Parliament;

"Election Court" means a court constituted in the manner, and having the powers and jurisdiction, mentioned in subsections (2) to (6) of section 80;

"election agent" means an election agent appointed under the provisions of subsection (1) of section 46;

"election petition" means a petition to an Election Court under Part VII;

"full age" means the age of eighteen years or upwards;

"general election" means the election of members to a new House of Assembly after any House of Assembly has been dissolved;

"illegal practice" means any offence against this Act which is not a corrupt practice or an offence by reason of section 16(8), 17(3) or section 99;

"Minister" means the Minister responsible for Parliamentary Registration and Elections;

"nomination day" means, in relation to any constituency, the day appointed under section 35 for the delivery of nomination papers by intending candidates;

"Parliamentary Commissioner" means the Parliamentary Commissioner appointed under section 12, and includes any person who is duly authorised in accordance with the provisions of that section to act on his behalf;

"polling day" means, in relation to any constituency, the day appointed under section 35 for the taking of the poll;

"polling division" means any of the polling divisions described in any order for the time being in force made by the Governor-General under the provisions of subsection (1) of section 11;

"polling place" means, in relation to any polling division in any constituency, a place appointed under section 49 as a place where the poll shall be taken in that polling division;

"prescribed" means prescribed by regulations made under the provisions of this Act;

"presiding officer" means, in relation to the taking of a poll at any polling place, the person appointed under section 48 to be in charge of that place;

"protest vote" means a vote which may be cast upon a coloured ballot paper under the provisions of section 58;

"register" or "register of voters" means the register of persons entitled to vote at an election which is to be prepared and kept under the provisions of this Act, and includes any part of the register;

"registered voter" means any person whose name is included in the register as being entitled to vote at an election;

"regular vote" means a vote properly cast under the provisions of this Act upon a white ballot paper;

"Member of Parliament" means, a candidate who has been elected and returned to represent a constituency in the House of Assembly;

"returning officer" means, in relation to any constituency, any person exercising or performing any of the functions of the returning officer under this Act, being the Parliamentary Commissioner or any person who is duly authorised in accordance with the provisions of section 12 to act as a returning officer;

"revising officer" means any person exercising or performing any of the functions of the revising officer under this Act in relation to any constituency, being the Parliamentary Commissioner or any person who is duly authorised in accordance with the provisions of section 12 to act as a revising officer;

"Speaker" means the person who holds the office of Speaker and includes any other person who, for the time being, is empowered under the Constitution to exercise the powers of Speaker;

"subscribe" means to sign, or in the case of a person who is unable to sign his name, to make his mark, and the words "sign" and "signature" shall be construed similarly;

"voter's card" means a card issued to a person registered as a voter in accordance with the provisions of this Act;

"writ of election" or "writ" means a writ issued in accordance with the provisions of this Act for the election of a Member of Parliament to represent a constituency in the House of Assembly.

(2) For the purposes of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section and paragraph (b) of subsection (2) of section 9 and without prejudice to any other rule of law concerning the meaning of the term "ordinarily resident", a person's residence in premises in a constituency shall not be deemed to have been interrupted-

(3) For the purposes of this Act, a person who is a patient in any establishment maintained wholly or mainly for the care of persons suffering from mental illness or mental defectiveness or who is detained in legal custody at any place, shall not by reason thereof be treated as resident there.

(4) No person's name which is included in any part of the register shall be retained therein if that person is not entitled to have his registration retained in that part in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), no person shall be entitled to vote at an election in any. constituency, unless on the day of election-

(2) A person shall be deemed to be suffering from a legal incapacity and shall not be entitled to apply for registration as a voter in any constituency or to vote at any election (whether registered as a voter or not)-

and if at any time the Parliamentary Commissioner is satisfied that any person who is registered as a voter is subject to any legal incapacity, he shall forthwith make a mark to that effect against that person's name in the register and, if any person remains subject to any such legal incapacity for a period exceeding six months, he shall remove that person's name from the register in accordance with the provisions of subsection (3) of section 22.

(2) The Governor-General may at any time if he thinks fit having regard in particular to the requirements of paragraph (d) of subsection (3) of this section by order, made under this subsection, re-draw the boundaries of polling divisions within any constituency, and the new boundaries of polling divisions within any constituency established by virtue of such an order shall take effect on such date as may be specified in the order.

(3) In establishing the boundaries of polling divisions under this section the Governor-General shall observe the following rules-

Provided that it shall not be a ground for contesting the validity of any election that registered voters in excess of four hundred reside within any polling division.

(4) Notwithstanding the repeal of the Representation of the People Act, any polling division constituted by an order made by the Governor-General under subsection (1) of section 11 of that Act and in force immediately before the coming into operation of this Act shall be deemed to be a polling division properly constituted under the provisions of this section.

(2) The Parliamentary Commissioner shall be the principal officer of the Parliamentary Registration Department, and who shall be appointed by the Governor-General acting in accordance with the advice of the Public Service Commission, and such number of Deputy Parliamentary Commissioners and other officers of that Department as the Governor-General acting in accordance with the advice of the Public Service Commission, may from time to time appoint.

(3) The Parliamentary Commissioner and every Deputy Parliamentary Commissioner shall be a public officer.

(4) The appointment of the Parliamentary Commissioner and of every other officer appointed under this section shall be made on such terms as to emoluments, allowances and pension rights as the Governor-General may determine, and all such emoluments, allowances and pensions shall be payable out of the Consolidated Fund by warrant in the usual manner.

(5) It shall be the duty of the Parliamentary Commissioner to keep the register and to carry out the requirements of this Act regarding the registration of voters and the holding of elections.

(6) The functions under this Act of the Parliamentary Commissioner, the revising officer and the returning officer shall be exercised and performed by the Parliamentary Commissioner or by a Deputy Parliamentary Commissioner or other person who is authorised to act on his behalf:

Provided that in a Family Island any of the functions of the Parliamentary Commissioner, or of the revising officer or of the returning officer may be exercised or performed by any person, being the Commissioner or one of the Commissioners for that Family Island, or some other responsible person who is authorised in writing by or on behalf of the Parliamentary Commissioner so to act on his behalf; and the expressions "Parliamentary Commissioner", "revising officer" and "returning officer" in this Act shall be construed accordingly.

(7) Any person who exercises or performs any of the functions of the revising officer or of the returning officer otherwise than in the course of his duties as a public officer may be paid such fees for his services as the Parliamentary Commissioner may, with the approval of the Minister and with concurrence of the Minister of Finance, determine.

Provided that the register in being immediately before the coming into operation of this Act shall be deemed to have been prepared as the register of voters under the provisions of this section.

(2) The register shall be framed in separate parts for each polling division, and each part shall contain, in alphabetical order, the names of those who are registered as being entitled to vote at an election in the polling division to which it relates, and shall be in Form A in the First Schedule and shall contain the particulars therein referred to.

(3) The parts of the register for the polling divisions making up one constituency shall together form the register of voters for that constituency.

and thereupon all voters' cards which have been issued and all counterfoils corresponding thereto shall also be of no effect.

(2) It shall be the duty of the Parliamentary Commissioner to have prepared a new register in readiness for the expiration of any register pursuant to the provisions of subsection (1) of this section (hereafter in this subsection referred to as "the expiration of the old register") and-

(3) Notwithstanding any of the foregoing provisions of this section, the Governor-General may by order, made not less than one month before a date appointed by the Governor-General pursuant to paragraph (a) of subsection (1) of this section or the end of a period of five years referred to in paragraph (b) thereof, postpone by not more than three months the date on which, but for such postponement, any register (or parts of a register relating to a constituency) for the time being in force would cease to have effect:

Provided that no such postponement shall affect the date of the ending of the next succeeding period of five years.

(2) In this section "due notice" means at least three days' previous notice, given by public notice:

Provided that the revising officer may give notice of his intention to adjourn an attendance to the first or second day following that attendance by announcing such intention at the end of that attendance.

(3) The revising officer shall refuse to entertain any such application which is not made by the applicant in person.

(2) For the purpose of enabling the carrying out of any enquiry under subsection (1), the Parliamentary Commissioner shall appoint in writing for each polling division of the respective constituency not less than two persons of full age to be scrutineers, notice of which appointment shall be given in two daily newspapers published in The Bahamas or, in the case of a constituency in a Family Island, posted on the public notice board at the office of a Commissioner in that constituency.

(3) Every political party which is represented in the House of Assembly at the time when any enumeration has been concluded in any constituency or any person who is not a member of such party but is a candidate in an election for that constituency shall upon request to the Parliamentary Commissioner and upon payment of the prescribed fee be supplied by the latter with a copy of the results of that enumeration.

(4) The Parliamentary Commissioner shall supply each scrutineer with-

(5) A scrutineer shall at the time of visiting the dwelling place of a person whose name appears on the copy of the list of voters provided by the Parliamentary Commissioner initial the entry on that list and indicate briefly whether the person was interviewed or not.

(6) In making an enquiry pursuant to subsection (1), scrutineers shall, as far as practicable, visit every dwelling place in their respective polling divisions-

and where, upon making the last of such visits, the scrutineers are unable to secure all the information necessary, a scrutineer shall leave at such dwelling place a notice indicating such inability (in this section referred to as a notice of inability to obtain information).

(7) Scrutineers shall at all reasonable times and upon producing proper identification under the hand of the Parliamentary Commissioner be given free access, for the purpose of their functions, to the entrance door to each dwelling unit in any building containing more than one dwelling unit.

(8) Any person who obstructs or interferes with a scrutineer in the performance of any of his duties or in the exercise of his rights under this section or who falsely holds himself out or acts as a scrutineer appointed under this section shall be guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction by imprisonment for a term of one year or by a fine of five thousand dollars or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(9) Every scrutineer who wilfully neglects or omits or refuses to perform any of his duties under this section forfeits his right to payment for any services already rendered.

(10) Every scrutineer who knowingly submits or renders to the Parliamentary Commissioner any result of an enumeration carried out by him which is false by reason of-

on that part of the register for the constituency in which the enumeration was carried out shall be guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars and by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1)-

"chief occupant" means-

"house" means a dwelling house and includes any structure or building or a part of a building used as a residence and where a building is let in separate apartments, flats or lodgings such apartments, flats and lodgings.

(3) A chief occupant who without reasonable excuse fails to comply with a request made under subsection (1) or who pursuant to such a request knowingly submits in answer to that request a reply which is false in a material particular shall be guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or by both such fine and imprisonment.

(2) Any person who is or has at any time been registered as a voter in the current register may, whether or not he is still so registered, make application for a transfer of registration following a change of residence, and the provisions of section 20 shall apply to such application:

Provided that any such person who is no longer in possession of the voter's card issued to him during the period of the current register shall first apply for a replacement voter's card, in accordance with the provisions of section 28, before applying for a transfer of registration.

(2) The revising officer shall disregard any copy of a photograph which he reasonably considers is not a good likeness of the subject, or is in any other way unsuitable.

(3) A voter's card shall be in Form C in the First Schedule and shall contain all the particulars referred to therein, and shall have affixed thereto a photograph of the person to whom it is issued, which photograph shall be sealed to the page to which it is so affixed with an impression seal in such manner that the impression of the seal shall appear partly on the photograph and partly on the page to which it is affixed.

(4) The counterfoil corresponding to a voter's card shall be in Form D in the First Schedule and shall have affixed thereto the identical copy of the photograph in that voter's card, which shall be sealed to that voter's card.

(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing subsections relating to photographs, if in a constituency, provision for the taking and providing of photographs is not effective or is not then reasonably available for the purposes of the taking and providing of photographs, the revising officer shall proceed with the registration of a person and the preparation of the voter's card and the counterfoil thereof while deferring the issue of the card until the photograph is available for affixture to it, but for not later than the day immediately prior to the polling day following upon such registration.

(6) Before issuing a voter's card, the revising officer shall require the person to whom it is to be issued to sign that card and the counterfoil, and shall himself sign that card and the counterfoil.

(7) The Parliamentary Commissioner shall make such provision as he shall consider necessary and at such times and places in each constituency as he shall think fit, and without fee, for the purpose of taking and providing photographs of persons seeking registration as voters.

(8) Notwithstanding the repeal of the Representation of the People Act, any voter's card or counterfoil corresponding to such a card prepared under the provisions of section 17 of that Act and in force immediately before the coming into operation of this Act shall be deemed to be a voter's card or, as the case may be, a counterfoil duly prepared and in force under the provisions of this section.

(2) This section shall apply to any application to amend or correct any particulars of an entry in the register relating to the applicant, or to alter the qualification of the applicant, as it does to applications for registration provided for in this section.

(2) Any three persons who are registered as voters in a constituency may object to the name of any other person being retained in any part of the register for that constituency, by delivering to the revising officer a notice of objection in Form F in the First Schedule and upon receiving a notice which discloses a prima facie ground why the name of that other person should be removed from that part of the register, the revising officer shall as soon as practicable-

(2) If at any time the Parliamentary Commissioner has reasonable cause to believe that any person whose name is included in any part of the register is not entitled to be so registered or to be retained there, he shall as soon as practicable-

(3) If at any time the Parliamentary Commissioner-

he shall remove that person's name from the register wherever his name appears, and shall send notice in Form H in the First Schedule to that person to each one of his addresses as shown in the register, that his name has been so removed, and if within fourteen days of the date of such notice that person shall satisfy the Parliamentary Commissioner that he is entitled to be so registered, the Parliamentary Commissioner shall forthwith restore his name to the register.

(4) The Parliamentary Commissioner shall have access to all registers and other records of deaths which are required to be kept under the Births and Deaths Registration Act, and the Registrar General (as defined in that Act) shall furnish the Parliamentary Commissioner with a copy of any register or other record of deaths in The Bahamas as and when the Parliamentary Commissioner may require.

(5) It shall be the duty of the Parliamentary Commissioner, (the failure of which however shall not be considered as any ground upon which to void an election), once every six months after the coming into operation of this section, to cause notice to be given in two daily newspapers published in The Bahamas or, in the case of a constituency in a Family Island, to cause notice to be posted on the public notice board at the office of a Commissioner in that constituency and at such other place in the constituency as may be determined by the Parliamentary Commissioner, as to the names and particulars of those persons whose names appear in a part of the register and whom he has reasonable cause to believe should seek a transfer to another part of the register.

(2) At the hearing of an objection, which shall be a public hearing-

(3) If any party fails to appear at the hearing, the revising officer may on good cause being shown adjourn the hearing for not more than three days, but save as aforesaid shall hear and determine the matter notwithstanding the absence of any party.

(4) The revising officer shall cause the register to be altered as may be required to give effect to his decision.

(2) Any person-

(3) The revising officer shall forward to the court any such notice of appeal, together in each case with a statement of the material facts which, in his opinion, have been established in the case, and of his decision, and shall furnish to the court any further information which the court may require and which he is able to furnish, and shall comply with any rules of court.

(4) On any appeal under this section the revising officer shall be deemed to be a party to the proceedings.

(5) Notice shall be sent to the revising officer, in the manner provided by rules of court, of the decision of the court on any appeal under this section, and the register shall be altered as may be required to give effect to that decision.

(6) No decision of the revising officer or of any court on appeal under this section shall be evidence in any court in any suit, action or proceeding whatsoever except for the purpose of the registration of voters or for purposes connected therewith.

(7) It shall be the duty of the Parliamentary Commissioner to maintain a book showing the names of persons who have been removed from or restored to the register, the date thereof and the respective part of the register to which the removal or restoration relates and, within six months of the coming into operation of this section and thereafter at six monthly intervals, to cause notice to be given in two newspapers published in The Bahamas or, in the case of a constituency in a Family Island, to cause notice to be posted on the public notice board at the office of a Commissioner in that constituency, as to those names and other particulars not shown in a preceding publication.

(8) A failure to comply with the requirements of subsection (7) or any irregularity or error in a publication pursuant to that subsection shall not be a ground for questioning the validity of an election.

(2) Where a general election is held or an election is held in any constituency in New Providence the register for the purpose of the election shall be the register comprising of those persons named therein at the end of the period for the normal attendance of public officers at their respective offices on the day immediately preceding the day of the issue of the writ of election and upon which issue the following provisions shall have effect, namely-

(3) The provisions of subsections (1) and (2) of this section shall apply to all the parts of the register relating to the constituencies in the Family Islands, but for the purposes of such application for references to "the fourteenth day" and "New Providence" there shall be substituted references to "the twenty-first day" and "the Family Islands" respectively.

(4) In any case where the Parliamentary Commissioner or the revising officer would but for the closing of the register have sent notice of objection to, or removed the name of, a registered voter from the register, he shall make a mark in the appropriate column of the register opposite that name, and the returning officer shall require that person if he claims to vote on polling day, to take and subscribe the same oath as if his right to vote had been challenged by a candidate at the polling place.

(2) Not less than once every three years the Parliamentary Commissioner shall publish a copy of the register for The Bahamas which shall be certified by him as having been correct on a day not more than fourteen days before the day of publication.

(3) Where any copy of the register is required by this section or by section 25 to be published, such publication shall be made by giving public notice that printed copies certified by the Parliamentary Commissioner are available for sale at the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner at such cost as may be prescribed.

(4) Where any copy of the register is required by this section or by section 25 to be made open for inspection, a copy shall be kept available for inspection and the taking of extracts by the public at the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner during Government office hours, and a copy of the parts of the register relating to any constituency in a Family Island shall, so far as practicable, also be kept available for inspection and the taking of extracts by the public during office hours at the office of an Administrator, being the office which is usually appointed as the place for the delivery of nomination papers.

(2) The copy of the register made by the Parliamentary Commissioner under the provisions of subsection (1) is in this Act referred to as the "Corrected Register."

(3) A registered voter shall not be required to re-register by reason only of the alteration of boundaries or the creation of new polling divisions as aforesaid.

(4) As persons are registered from time to time in the current register for the several constituencies to which any order under paragraph (7) of Article 70 of the Constitution or subsection (1) of section 11 of this Act relates, the Parliamentary Commissioner shall make all such additions, deletions or alterations in the Corrected Register as may be necessary as a result of such registration.

(5) The Parliamentary Commissioner shall from time to time make any necessary alterations or corrections to the counterfoils of the voters' cards of those persons in respect of whom corrections were made in the Corrected Register pursuant to subsection (1).

(6) From time to time after the counterfoils have been corrected pursuant to subsection (5) the Parliamentary Commissioner shall publish a notice requesting all persons affected by the corrections to attend at the office of the Parliamentary Commissioner or such other places as specified with their voters' cards in order to have such cards corrected in conformity with the corrections made to the corresponding counterfoils, and shall require those persons to subscribe their signatures or marks and shall himself subscribe his signature to the corrections on the counterfoils; and each such notice shall be inserted in at least three consecutive issues of not less than two newspapers published in the Island of New Providence and may be published in such additional manner as the Parliamentary Commissioner may deem fit.

(7) Upon the dissolution of the House of Assembly in being at the time of the making of an order under the provisions of paragraph (7) of Article 70 of the Constitution, the register in being made under the provisions of subsection (1) of section 13 shall cease to have effect and shall be replaced by the Corrected Register which shall thereafter be the register of voters until it expires pursuant to paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of section 14 at the end of the succeeding period of five years which period is to be reckoned from the date of such replacement, or until the register ceases to have effect pursuant to paragraph (a) of that subsection or pursuant to this subsection.

(8) Where by an order made under subsection (2) of section 11 the boundaries of any polling divisions in any constituency are re-drawn, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say-

(2) Any person who finds a voter's card which appears to have been lost or stolen shall without delay take the same to a police station or to the revising officer, and any person found in possession of a voter's card (not being his own card) without lawful excuse shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.

(2) The Council shall consist of a Chairman, a Deputy Chairman and one other member.

(3) The Chairman and another member of the Council shall be appointed by the Governor-General, acting on the recommendation of the Prime Minister after consultation with the Leader of the Opposition, by instrument under the Public Seal, and the Deputy Chairman shall be appointed by the Governor-General, acting on the recommendation of the Leader of the Opposition after consultation with the Prime Minister, by instrument under the Public Seal.

(4) A person shall not be qualified to hold office as a member of the Council if he is a Minister, a Parliamentary Secretary, a member of, or a candidate for election to the House of Assembly, a Senator or a public officer.

(5) Subject to the provisions of this section, the office of a member of the Council becomes vacant-

(6) Where any member of the Council is unable, by reason of ill health or for any other reason, to perform the functions of his office the Governor-General may in accordance with the manner provided by subsection (3) appoint a person to act as a temporary member of the Council and authorise him to perform the functions of that office.

(7) Where the Prime Minister or the Leader of the Opposition fails to make a recommendation to the Governor-General in accordance with the requirements of subsection (3) or (6), as the case may be, the Governor-General after giving to the Prime Minister or the Leader of the Opposition, as the case may be, three days' written notice of his intention to make an appointment in view of the failure shall proceed to do so according to his own deliberate judgment.

(8) Any appointment made by the Governor-General pursuant to subsection (7) shall be deemed to have been made in accordance with subsection (3) or (6) as the case may be.

(9) The Council may regulate its own procedure.

(10) Any question proposed for decision at any meeting of the Council shall be determined by a majority of the votes of the members thereof present and voting, and if on any such question the votes are equally divided, the member presiding shall have and exercise a casting vote.

(2) The salaries and allowances of the staff of the Council are hereby charged on and shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund.

(2) The Council in exercising its functions as a board of review may obtain oral or written complaints and shall deal with them expeditiously.

(3) In the exercise of its functions, under this section, the Council shall not be subject to the direction or control of any person or authority.

(2) If, during any recess of the House of Assembly, any member shall die or become disqualified from continuing to serve as a member by virtue of any of the provisions of the Constitution or this Act, the Speaker shall, upon the fact coming to his notice, send a message to the Governor-General requesting the issue of a writ of election.

(3) Upon receipt of the Speaker's message the Governor-General shall as soon as practicable issue a writ of election for the election of a member for the constituency for which the vacancy has occurred, and there shall be not less than twenty-one nor more than thirty days between the issue of the writ of election and the return of that writ.

(2) The returning officer to whom a writ of election is directed shall endorse the date of receipt on the writ in Form A in the Second Schedule.

and the notice shall state at what places and times forms of nomination papers may be obtained.

(2) Nomination day of any election shall not be earlier than the fifth day, and not later than the tenth day, after the day on which public notice of the election is given.

(2) A person shall not be validly nominated unless there is delivered to the returning officer at the place and within the time for the delivery of nomination papers a declaration of qualification, signed by that person in the presence of a justice of the peace, which is made and dated on a day not more than ninety days before nomination day and which is in Form D in the Second Schedule.

(3) It shall not be lawful for any person to be nominated as a candidate in any election for more than one constituency so that if such person were elected in each such constituency he would be entitled to be the Member of Parliament for more than one constituency in the House of Assembly at the same time, and any person who-

shall be guilty of an offence against this Act.

(4) Where it comes to the attention of the Parliamentary Commissioner that any person has been nominated as a candidate in contravention of subsection (3), the Parliamentary Commissioner shall by notice published in the Gazette cancel the nomination of such person in any constituency or constituencies (to be selected by such person, if he so desires, or failing such selection, by the Parliamentary Commissioner) for the purpose of ensuring that the requirements of that subsection are complied with as far as within him lies, and the publication of such a notice shall operate to cancel forthwith the candidature of such person in the said constituency or constituencies:

Provided that such cancellation shall not affect the liability of any person to be tried and punished under the provisions of the said subsection (3).

(2) The meaning respectively assigned to terms and expressions by section 2 of the Public Disclosure Act shall apply to any such term or expression used in subsection (1)(a) or in the said Form E.

(3) The deposit under subsection (1) shall be made in cash or by a manager's or certified cheque drawn on a Bank licensed in The Bahamas and the returning officer shall forthwith give a receipt for the said sum and pay it into the Consolidated Fund.

(4) The deposit made under this section shall as soon as practicable after the result of the election is declared be returned to the candidate, or if he is dead to his legal personal representatives, except in the cases mentioned in subsection (5).

(5) If a candidate for any constituency-

the deposit shall be forfeited to Her Majesty.

(2) Except for the purpose of delivering nomination papers or of assisting the returning officer, no person shall be entitled to attend the proceedings during the time for delivery of nomination papers unless he is a person standing nominated as a candidate or a person authorised in writing by such candidate to attend in his stead.

(3) Where a nomination paper, a declaration of qualification and a declaration of assets are delivered and a deposit is made in accordance with this Act by or on behalf of an intending candidate, as the case may be, he shall stand nominated unless the returning officer rejects the nomination paper as invalid at the time of such delivery, either of his own motion or by reason of any objection made at the time of such delivery, by any person entitled to be present at the proceedings.

(4) The returning officer shall reject a nomination paper-

(5) Before returning a nomination paper as being rejected to the person delivering the same, the returning officer shall endorse and sign the paper as in Form F in the Second Schedule, stating the fact and the grounds for his decision.

(6) The decision of the returning officer to reject a nomination paper shall be final, and shall not be questioned in any proceedings except on an election petition.

(2) The returning officer at the time of making the publication required by subsection (1) shall in addition publish a copy of any declaration filed with him pursuant to section 37(1)(a).

Provided that nothing done before such abandonment of proceedings shall be invalidated thereby.