Proposed regulations: Elections to the reformed Council
Notice is hereby given that, subject to Her Majesty granting the Society’s
petition for a new Supplemental Charter, the Council of the Society has approved
proposals to create regulations concerning elections to, and the appointment
of members of, the reformed Council.
1. Elections to elect pharmacists or pharmacy technicians to membership
of the Council shall be held in accordance with this section of the regulations.
In this section:
— “the Effective Date” means the day after the day of the Annual
General Meeting (“AGM”) of the Society in 2005
— “Secretary” means the Secretary (or chief executive officer
by whatever title known) of the Society and includes any deputy or acting Secretary
or other person fulfilling the office of Secretary and any person (not being
a member of the Council) authorised by the Secretary
— “year”means such period approximating to a calendar year
as may be specified by the Council from time to time.
2. The Secretary shall act as Returning Officer for elections under these regulations.
3. Three places on the Council shall be reserved for pharmacists who are normally
resident in each of three national constituencies. England, the Isle of Man
and the Channel Islands shall together form one national constituency; Scotland
shall form one national constituency; and Wales shall form one national constituency.
Pharmacists filling these reserved places shall be elected by ballot of pharmacists
whose addresses in the Register are in the relevant national constituency.
The remaining elected pharmacist members of the Council shall be elected by
ballot of all pharmacists. Pharmacists shall be elected to the Council on a
first past the post basis.
4. An election (“the first election”) to elect the seventeen pharmacists
who shall be elected members of the Council from the Effective Date shall be
held before that date. At the first election, the three pharmacists elected
in national constituencies and the three pharmacists elected with the highest
numbers of votes to places on the Council not reserved to a national constituency
shall be elected for a period of three years. The six pharmacists elected with
the next highest numbers of votes to places on the Council not reserved to
a national constituency shall be elected for a period of two years. The remaining
five pharmacists elected to the Council shall be elected for a period of one
year. At subsequent elections (other than a by-election to fill a casual vacancy)
elected members of the Council shall be elected for a period of three years.
5. After the first election, elections to places on the Council for pharmacists
shall be held every year. Six or five pharmacists shall go out of office each
year, being those who have been longest in office without re-election, and
the vacancies shall be filled by election. The members of the Council going
out of office shall be determined by the Returning Officer and reported to
the Council before the notice of election is issued.
6. From the Effective Date, two pharmacy technicians (the “first pharmacy
technician members”) shall be appointed by the Privy Council to membership
of the Council for a period of three years and shall be deemed to have been
elected. The first pharmacy technician members shall be succeeded by two pharmacy
technicians elected by ballot in accordance with these regulations. Of the
first two such pharmacy technicians elected by ballot, the one elected with
the highest numbers of votes shall serve for three years and the other shall
serve for two years. All subsequent pharmacy technician members shall be elected
to the Council for a period of three years by ballot of all registered pharmacy
technicians on a first past the post basis.
7. A pharmacist or pharmacy technician shall only be eligible for election
to the Council if he is normally resident in Great Britain, the Isle of Man
or the Channel Islands. If in the opinion of the Council any elected member
of the Council ceases to be normally resident in Great Britain, the Isle of
Man or the Channel Islands, he shall cease to be a member of the Council. A
pharmacist shall only be eligible for election in a national constituency if
he is normally resident in that constituency. If in the opinion of the Council
any member of the Council elected in a national constituency ceases to be normally
resident in that constituency, he shall cease to be a member of the Council.
If a pharmacist or pharmacy technician ceases to be a member of the Council
under this regulation the resulting vacancy shall be treated as a casual vacancy.
8. No pharmacist or pharmacy technician shall be eligible for election if he
has failed to pay by the date and time fixed for the return of nomination forms
any retention fee or penalty then due and payable by him to the Society.
9. No person may be elected as a member of the Council for more than four consecutive
terms of office, each of up to three years.
10. Any member of the Council elected in the first election who has served
nine or more consecutive years on the Council immediately prior to that election
shall be eligible to serve only one consecutive term from the Effective Date.
11. No person who has served as a member of the Council for four consecutive
terms of office shall be eligible for re-election until a period of three years
after leaving office has expired.
12. The Returning Officer shall fix the time and date by which nomination forms
shall be returned and at least 21 days before that date shall publish a notice
of the election. The notice shall specify the number of persons to be elected,
any national constituency in which a vacancy arises, the place to which nomination
forms are to be returned and the time and date by which they are to be returned.
13. A pharmacist may be nominated as a candidate in a national constituency
and as a candidate for election to a place on the Council not reserved to a
national constituency in the same election. In such a case, the candidate receiving
the highest number of votes in a national constituency shall be deemed to have
been elected in that constituency and any votes he has received in respect
of a place on the Council not reserved to a national constituency in the same
election shall be void.
14. Nominations for election shall be made on a nomination form provided by
the Returning Officer. Each prospective candidate for election shall be nominated
on a nomination form signed by ten nominators in the case of a pharmacist candidate
or by five nominators in the case of a pharmacy technician candidate. All nominators
shall be persons eligible to vote for the candidate in question.
15. A duly completed nomination form shall include:
(a) the registered name, registered address, registration number and age of
the prospective candidate;
(b the registered names and registration numbers of the required nominators
and their signatures.
16. A prospective candidate shall also provide with the nomination form:
(a) a signed declaration that:
(i) the information provided in the nomination form is correct;
(ii) he consents to be nominated;
(iii) he will accept office if duly elected; and
(iv) he is eligible to serve as the trustee of a charity;
(b) details of the date and terms of any relevant adverse decision of which
he has been the subject, including adverse decisions by the Society or another
regulatory body on his fitness to practise, and of any criminal convictions;
and
(c) a statement of relevant interests.
17. Every nomination form shall, on or before the deadline fixed for the return
of nomination forms, be delivered by post, by hand or by fax (or by such other
method as may be determined by the Returning Officer) at the place appointed.
A nomination form may be withdrawn by notice in writing signed by the prospective
candidate and delivered at the place appointed on or before that deadline.
18. A nomination form which has not been properly completed, or is not accompanied
by the items mentioned at 16 (a) to (c) above, or is received after the due
deadline, shall be invalid.
19. If a prospective candidate dies or ceases to be eligible for election before
the close of the nomination period, the nomination form shall be treated as
having been withdrawn.
20. The Returning Officer shall invite each candidate to supply by an appointed
date and time and in the form specified:
(a) particulars of his qualifications;
(b) information about his professional activities;
(c) an election statement of such length and in such form as the Council may
determine;
(d) a recent photograph of himself; and
(e) such other information as the Council may determine.
21. The Returning Officer shall not be required to publish an election statement
of a length greater than that specified or to publish anything which in the
Returning Officer’s opinion is or may be libellous or untrue on matters
of fact. The Returning Officer may, in consultation with the candidate, issue
a statement of clarification if in his opinion any part of an election statement
refers to matters outside the current functions, powers and duties of the Society.
22. If the number of candidates (for pharmacists, in a national constituency
or for election to places on the Council not reserved to a national constituency)
is equal to the number of vacancies and the period for voting has not commenced,
the Returning Officer shall declare the candidates elected. If the number of
candidates is fewer than the number of vacancies, the Council shall nominate
as many as may be required to form a complete list of candidates willing to
fill all the vacancies; the Returning Officer shall declare the candidates
named in the list so formed to have been elected. If the number of candidates
is greater than the number of vacancies, the Returning Officer shall cause
an election to be held.
23. Subject to regulation 24 below, all pharmacists registered with the Society
shall be entitled to vote in the election of pharmacist members of the Council
and all pharmacy technicians registered with the Society shall be entitled
to vote in elections to seats on the Council for such technicians.
24. Only pharmacists whose addresses in the Register are in the relevant constituency
shall be entitled to vote in an election in a national constituency. A pharmacist
who is otherwise eligible to vote in an election under these regulations shall
not be entitled to receive a voting paper by virtue of moving his registered
address, after the date on which the electoral roll is passed to the election
organisers, into a constituency where an election is taking place. A person
who becomes registered with the Society after the date on which the electoral
roll is passed to the election organisers shall not be entitled to receive
a voting paper in that election. A person whose registration with the Society
is suspended shall not be entitled to vote in an election under these regulations.
25. The Returning Officer shall fix the time and date by which voting forms
must be returned. At least 14 days before this deadline, a voting form shall
be sent to each person entitled to vote in that election at his registered
address. The voting form shall include: a list of the candidates in alphabetical
order giving in respect of each candidate his registered name, age, registered
address, and the part of the register in which his name appears; the national
constituency in which each candidate is standing for election (if applicable);
the deadline for return of voting forms, and instructions on the voting procedure.
The voting forms shall disclose the information provided by candidates under
16 (b) and (c) above. The period for voting commences on the date on which
the first voting papers in an election are dispatched.
26. If a serious interruption of postal services occurs after the Returning
Officer has fixed the deadline for the return of voting forms, he may fix a
new deadline for the return of voting forms.
27. If after the period for voting commences a candidate dies or withdraws
his nomination or is found by the Returning Officer to be ineligible to be
elected or becomes ineligible to be elected, the votes cast for that candidate
shall be void.
28. The Returning Officer may replace a voting form on request being made to
him in writing stating that the original form has not been received or has
been lost, destroyed or spoiled.
29. Votes shall only be cast on a voting form provided by or on behalf of the
Returning Officer, and only one voting form may be completed and returned by
each voter.
30. The voter shall record his vote or votes on the voting form in accordance
with the instructions thereon, placing a mark thus X against the name in the
voting form of each candidate for whom he wishes to vote, up to the maximum
number permitted.
31. The completed voting forms shall be sent by post to the body appointed
by the Council to examine voting forms, count votes and determine the result
of the election (‘the Scrutineer’). The Scrutineer shall make a
report to the Returning Officer specifying:
(a) the total number of voting forms received;
(b) the number of voting forms rejected as invalid;
(c) the number of votes cast for each candidate;
(d) the names of those elected; and
(e) if an election has been decided under regulation 32 below, a note to that
effect.
32. In the event of a tie, the election shall be decided between the tied candidates
by the drawing of lots conducted by or on behalf of the Scrutineer.
33. The Returning Officer shall inform all candidates of the outcome of an
election and shall publish the results of the election.
34. If any elected member of the Council shall cease to be a pharmacist or
pharmacy technician as the case may be, or to be eligible to serve as trustee
of a charity, he shall thereupon cease to be an elected member of the Council.
Any elected member of the Council may resign his office at any time by giving
notice in writing of his resignation to the Secretary except where such resignation
would cause there to be less than two trustees of any charity of which the
member is a trustee.
35. In the event of any casual vacancy occurring in the elected members of
Council, a by-election shall be held to fill the vacancy. The person so elected
shall hold office for the remainder of the period of office of the outgoing
member. If the relevant unexpired term is less than a year, the Council may
determine that the vacancy need not be filled.
36. No election held under these regulations shall be invalidated by reason
of any non-compliance with these provisions, or of the non-delivery, loss or
miscarriage of any document required under these regulations, if it appears
to the Returning Officer that the election was conducted substantially in accordance
with these regulations, and that the result of such failure, non-compliance,
non-delivery, loss or miscarriage did not affect the return of any candidate
at the election. On this and any other matter concerning the election the decision
of the Returning Officer shall be final.
Ann Lewis
Secretary and Registrar
Notes
1. These proposals are intended to take effect on such day as the aforementioned
new Supplemental Charter shall come into force, and after the expiry of
60 days from the date of this notice, subject to such amendments as the
Lords
of the Privy Council may require.
2. Currently, the Society’s Byelaws are made under powers provided either
by the Charter or by legislation. Under the Society’s new governing documents,
the terminology will be different: the Council will make regulations under
the new Charter and rules under the new legislation. The new regulations will
contain a provision for the revocation of the existing Byelaws concerning election
of Council and auditors (Section XII). |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal