Admiralty references: C.E.60057/49, C.E.60058/49, N.2/N.2955!51

SECTION I. POLITICAL ACTIVITIES

2501. Political activities. Any form of political activity on board Her Majesty's ships or in naval establishments is prohibited. Political meetings and speeches, and visits by parliamentary candidates, canvassers, or political agents, are not to be allowed.

2. No officer or rating is permitted to take any active part in the affairs of any political organisation or party, either by acting as a member of a candidate's election committee, or by speaking in public or publishing or distributing literature in furtherance of the political purposes of any such organisation or party, or in any other manner.

3. No Service facilities are to be afforded to, nor are Service bands to play at, any function the purpose of which is to further the interests of any political party. No private band is to permit itself to be advertised as a Service band or as belonging to any particular establishment (see also 3961).

2502. Candidature for Parliament. Except as provided in Clause 3, no officer or rating is permitted to issue an address to electors or in any other manner publicly to announce himself or allow himself to be announced as a candidate or a prospective candidate for any constituency for election to the Parliaments of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, or the Irish Republic, or to the Legislative Assembly of Malta.

2. Officers desiring to retire or resign, and ratings desiring to be discharged with a view to standing as candidates for election to the Parliaments of the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland, or the Irish Republic, or to the Legislative Assembly of Malta must make application through the usual Service channels. The approval of such applications will depend on the exigencies of the Service. An officer whose application is approved will be treated as retiring or resigning voluntarily. A rating whose application is approved will be granted a free discharge as from the day before he issues his address or is otherwise publicly announced as a parliamentary candidate. Unsuccessful candidates will have no right to reinstatement in the Service.

3. Notwithstanding the provision in Clause 1, persons who are, by virtue of the National Service Act 1948, serving for a term of whole-time service (i.e. including national service men who are granted commissions during their period of whole-time service) in the Royal Navy or the Royal Marines are permitted, if they wish to stand for Parliament, to allow their candidature to be announced. Such candidates must apply through the usual channels for discharge from whole-time service in order to contest an election, and may, if the exigencies of the Service permit, be discharged (or permitted to resign their commissions) one month before polling day without prejudice to any liability to complete whole-time service under the National Service Acts 1948. From the date of discharge a national service man may issue an address and speak in public in civilian clothes and take part in other political activities provided he has been formally adopted as a prospective candidate or as a candidate for the election. National service candidates who fail to secure election will be recalled to complete their whole-time service. In all other respects the provisions of Article 2501 and Clause 2 of this article are applicable to national service candidates.

4. Except as provided in Clause 3 the prohibitions contained in Article 2501 and in Clause 2 apply to officers (except Admirals of the Fleet when they are unemployed) and ratings, notwithstanding that they may be unemployed or on half-pay, or seconded or lent or granted leave without

POLITICAL ACTIVITIES AND ELECTORAL REGISTRATION

pay. They also apply to retired officers and officers on the Emergency List and pensioners when such officers or ratings are recalled to service or re-employed and to officers and ratings of the reserve forces when actually serving.

SECTION II. ELECTORAL REGISTRATION

2521. Service voters at Parliamentary and Local Government Elections. The following brief summary of the steps required to be taken by officers and ratings, to enable them to be placed on the Electoral Register as Service Voters and thus secure a vote at Parliamentary and Local Government Elections, is promulgated for information and guidance. Full details of the arrangements are contained in Appendix 15.

2. ELECTORAL REGISTRATION.-In order to secure the inclusion of their names on the Electoral Register, persons who have Service qualifications must make a Service Declaration, even if already registered as civilians. This is done by completing the Armed Forces Declaration Card (Form F/Vote/33), which is available on board. This form, when completed, must be attested by a commissioned officer and forwarded to the Electoral Registration Officer for the constituency containing the applicant's qualifying address, who will, in due course, acknowledge the declaration. Acknowledgements received by ratings should be taken to their Divisional Officers, so that a brief note of the particulars can be made on the cover of the service certificates.

Once they are registered, Service voters will be included automatically in subsequent electoral registers for the constituency in which they are registered, but if they wish to register for a new address, they must make a fresh Service declaration on Form F/Vote/33.

3. INDIVIDUALS UNDER 21.-These may complete declarations at any time after the age of 18, and, in any case, should do so by the time they reach the age of 204. Their declarations will be kept in suspense until they approach electoral age, and they will be registered automatically.

This applies equally to National Servicemen if they are likely to be still in the Service when they attain the age of 2041.

Though there is now only one electoral register a year (published in the Spring), persons reaching the age of 21 after the qualifying date for each register will retain the voting rights they would have had if the Autumn register had not been abolished. The names of individuals who are less than 21 on the qualifying date, but who will reach that age by 15th June in the following year (30th April for Northern Ireland) will be included in the register in the ordinary way, but their names will be marked to indicate that they will be entitled to vote only at elections where the date of the poll is after 1st October in that year.

4. PROXIES.-A proxy can be nominated at the same time as the declaration is made, by completing Part 2 of the Form F/Vote/33 which must always be signed. This should invariably be done by those serving overseas, as it is only by this means that they can record a vote if they are abroad at the time of an election.

5. REGULATIONS AND FACILITIES.-Any rating who wishes to have further information about registration, and voting in the Navy should apply to his Divisional Officer.

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