Standing as a candidate at a local election
What you can and can't do during your campaign
On printed and digital material (eg leaflets and posters, social media posts, online ads, websites, messages on apps like WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram, and electronic billboards,) you must include the name and address of:
- the printer (where appropriate)
- the promoter
- any person on behalf of whom the material is being published (and who is not the promoter)
These details are known as an 'imprint'. The imprint shows who is responsible for publishing the information and helps to make sure there is transparency for voters about who is campaigning.
If you display banners or posters, make sure you follow planning regulations and remove them no more than two weeks after the election.
Any banners, posters and election material put up on 兔子先生 land or buildings, including lamp posts and railings, will be removed.
Your posters must not look like an official poll card, and you must not pay anyone to display adverts, unless that is their normal business.
Campaigning on polling day
On polling day, you must not:
- Campaign near polling stations in a way that could be seen by voters as aggressive or intimidating (for example, large groups of supporters carrying banners, or vehicles with loudspeakers or heavily branded with campaign material).
- Breach the requirements on secrecy of the ballot. This is an essential part of any modern democracy and breaches are taken seriously.
- Seek to identify and publicise how votes have been marked on individual ballot papers, particularly if you (or your agents) attend postal vote opening sessions.
- Publish exit polls or any other data based on information given by people about how they voted after they have cast their vote, including a postal vote, before the close of poll.
This list is not exhaustive, for more information go the Electoral Commission website to see their and .