The High Court has dismissed Dennis Riordan’s challenge to rules requiring non-party candidates to obtain 30 assentors and preventing them from being described as “Independent” on ballot papers.
Mr Justice Carney delivered the judgment on 23 February 2005. Riordan had sought to stand as a non-party candidate in the 2002 General Election in the Limerick constituency. He argued that the assentor requirement was unconstitutional and discriminated against non-party candidates, who had to arrange for assentors to attend a local authority office to prove their support. Candidates of registered political parties instead had to provide a certificate of political affiliation.
Riordan also challenged the rule that a candidate could be described as a “non-party candidate”, but not as “Independent”. He sought declarations that sections 46(4A), 46(5) and 52(1)(a) of the Electoral Act 1992, as amended, were repugnant to the Constitution.
On the main constitutional challenge, Carney J said the issues had already been considered in *King, Stack and Cooney v Minister for the Environment, Ireland and the Attorney General*, decided by the High Court in December 2003. He said he agreed with that judgment and was bound by it under the principle of precedent, absent exceptional circumstances. He found no such circumstances.
On the description used on the ballot paper, the judge said it was proper to regulate candidate descriptions. He noted that the law allowed Riordan to be described as a non-party candidate, which he considered a truthful and factual description, or to opt for no description. No evidence had been presented that the restriction on using “Independent” would prejudice or damage him.
The court found that Riordan had not established an infringement of his rights in relation to that complaint. It dismissed the application. The judgment records the dismissal of the judicial review application; it does not set out any further order.