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Northern Ireland Office

Answer

Dr. Hendron: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many objections were lodged with the electoral court in each calendar year from 1980 to 1996; and how many of the objectives were upheld. [16468] Mr. Ancram: The statistics required by the hon. Gentleman are not kept in the precise form he has requested. The table provided gives the most detailed information available and covers the whole period for which records have been kept. Claims and objections are determined at electoral hearings, not courts, and the statistics are compiled on the basis of the registration cycle and not a calendar year. All the information reproduced is obtainable from the annual reports of the chief electoral officer, which are available in the Library of the House. The objections referred to in the table are those lodged to names included in the draft register of electors, which is published in November each year. Northern Ireland electoral register claims and objections _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Register year Received Allowed Additions to register Claims Objections Claims Objections 1974 5,928 5,851 1975 9,378 9,334 1976 5,441 5,105 1977 5,361 5,495 1978 6,494 4,177 1979 5,814 2,632 1980 6,108 3,322 1981 5,504 2,959 1982 5,076 2,642 1983 7,452 3,426 1984 5,524 1,679 1985 4,108 1,154 1986 4,100 846 1987 3,730 785 1988 1,108 204 1989 1,021 231 1990 456 195 1991 816 180 620 125 1992 956 81 634 49 1993 1,000 67 806 63 1994 630 25 436 14 1995 471 44 330 17 1996 443 56 298 24 1997 1,169 252 770 134 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Under continuous registration, there is also the facility for objections to be made to any claim lodged for inclusion in the published register of electors. Such objections have occurred only in 1981 when there were 22, and in 1982 when there were 60.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

16468; 291 c334-6W

Session

1996-97

Subjects

Electoral register Northern Ireland

Contains statistics

Yes