Local Electoral Act 2001

Conduct of elections and polls - Death, incapacity, or invalid or cancelled nominations of candidates

69: Application for cancellation of nomination if candidate incapacitated after close of nominations

You could also call this:

"How to cancel a candidate's nomination if they become too sick or hurt to do the job"

Illustration for Local Electoral Act 2001

If you want to cancel a candidate's nomination because they are incapacitated, you can make an application. You can do this if the candidate becomes incapacitated after the nominations have closed but before the voting has finished. The application must be made to the electoral officer. You need to use a special form provided by the electoral officer and have it witnessed by a Justice of the Peace or a solicitor. The application must include a certificate from a medical practitioner that explains the candidate's condition and says they are incapacitated. The medical practitioner must be registered with the Medical Council of New Zealand, as stated in section 114(1)(a) of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003. You must submit the application as soon as possible after the candidate becomes incapacitated and before the voting closes. You can submit it by hand, post, fax, or electronic transmission. Being incapacitated means the candidate is unlikely to be able to do the job if they were elected because they are very sick or badly hurt.

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This page was last updated on 26 November 2025

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM94375.

Topics:

Government and voting > Elections

68: General rules affecting scrutineers, or

"Rules for scrutineers: who can be one and what they can do"

69A: How application for cancellation of nomination dealt with, or

"What happens when you ask to cancel a candidate's nomination"

Part 3Conduct of elections and polls
Death, incapacity, or invalid or cancelled nominations of candidates

69Application for cancellation of nomination if candidate incapacitated after close of nominations

An application may be made for the cancellation of the nomination of a candidate if the candidate becomes incapacitated after the close of nominations but before the close of voting.
The application must be made to the electoral officer by—
the 2 electors who nominated the candidate; or
if 1 or both electors are unavailable or unable to act for any reason, a person with authority to act on the candidate's behalf.

The application must be made on a form provided by the electoral officer, and must be witnessed by a Justice of the Peace or a solicitor.
The application must be accompanied by a certificate signed by a medical practitioner that certifies—
as to the candidate's condition; and
that, in the practitioner's opinion, the candidate is incapacitated.

The application must be submitted to the electoral officer—
as soon as practicable after the candidate becomes incapacitated; and
before the close of voting.

The application may be submitted by hand, post, fax, or electronic transmission.
In this section,—
incapacitated means that a candidate, because he or she is suffering from a serious illness or has sustained a serious injury, would be unlikely to be capable of performing the functions and duties of office if elected to the office
medical practitioner means a health practitioner who is, or is deemed to be, registered with the Medical Council of New Zealand continued by section 114(1)(a) of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 as a practitioner of the profession of medicine.

Notes

Section 69: replaced, on 29 June 2013, by section 21 of the Local Electoral Amendment Act 2013 (2013 No 40).