Explanatory note

These Rules amend the Justices of the Peace (Size and Chairmanship of Bench) Rules 2002. They replace the weighted preferential voting system for postal ballots set out in the 2002 Rules with a system based on a single vote for each office to be filled. The new system is supplemented, in an election for a deputy chairman, by the provision of a ‘reserve’ vote, which is taken into account where a candidate for deputy chairman has been elected chairman or has withdrawn his nomination (new rule 8(8)(a)).

These Rules also remove the requirement to defer announcement of the result of a postal ballot to the election meeting; instead the justices' chief executive must notify the candidates of the result immediately and may either notify the justices in writing before the election meeting or announce the result at the meeting (new rule 6(10)).