Article 77 Undue influenceF1

Scotland

(1)

A person is guilty of a corrupt practice if that person is guilty of undue influence.

(2)

A person (“P”) is guilty of undue influence if P carries out an activity falling within paragraph (4) for the purpose of—

(a)

inducing or compelling a person to vote in a particular way or to refrain from voting, or

(b)

otherwise impeding or preventing the free exercise of the franchise of an elector or of a proxy for an elector.

(3)

A person (“P”) is also guilty of undue influence if P carries out an activity falling within any of paragraph (4)(a) to (f) on account of—

(a)

a person having voted in a particular way or refrained from voting, or

(b)

P assuming a person to have voted a particular way or to have refrained from voting.

(4)

The following activities fall within this paragraph—

(a)

using, or threatening to use, violence against a person,

(b)

damaging or destroying, or threatening to damage or destroy, a person’s property,

(c)

damaging, or threatening to damage, a person’s reputation,

(d)

causing, or threatening to cause, financial loss to a person,

(e)

causing spiritual injury to, or placing undue spiritual pressure on, a person,

(f)

doing any other act designed to intimidate a person,

(g)

doing any act designed to deceive a person in relation to the administration of an election.

(5)

For the purposes of paragraphs (2) and (3) an activity is carried out by P if it is carried out—

(a)

by P,

(b)

by P jointly with one or more other persons, or

(c)

by one or more other persons on behalf of P with P’s authority or consent.

(6)

In paragraph (4)(f) and (g) “act” includes an omission (and references to the doing of an act are to be read accordingly).

Annotations

F1: Art. 77 substituted (with effect in accordance with art. 1(2) of the amending S.S.I.) by The Scottish Parliament (Elections etc.) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Order 2025 (S.S.I. 2025/313), arts. 1(1), 8