Ïã¸ÛÁùºÏ²Ê

Is the UK’s first-past-the-post electoral system fundamentally undemocratic? When and how are early elections possible? Are there legal tools available to improve gender and race representativeness? What role should money play in politics and when does it unduly distort the electoral playing field? How do we counter fake news during electoral and referendum campaigns? Are voter ID laws ever legitimate?

This course exposes students to the ever more important law of democracy. Covering the theory, practice, and regulation of elections and referendums, the course will allow students to deepen their understanding of complex issues such as: the interplay between the UK’s first-past-the-post electoral system, party system, and parliamentary and executive arrangements; prerogative powers and the regulation of elections; campaign finance rules and money in political advertising; the regulation of referendums under UK and devolved statutes; the role and limits of the Electoral Commission in ensuring effective accountability; limits on the right to vote such as voter ID laws and franchise restrictions; legal tools available to improve the representativeness of the UK Parliament, especially in terms of gender and race; and how to address campaign misinformation. While the course will be primarily UK-focused, it will also draw on comparative material (in particular US, Canadian, and Australian) and the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights where appropriate.

The course is highly topical in the UK, where there has been growing legislative activity around elections, such as the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 (repealing the much-maligned Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011) and the Elections Act 2022 (already challenged on account of its voter ID restrictions). There have also been a number of important legal challenges surrounding the Brexit referendum (e.g. The Good Law Project v Electoral Commission and Vote Leave Ltd 2018) and the prorogation of Parliament (Miller v PM and Cherry v Attorney General for Scotland 2019) that have called on courts to review the conduct of the Electoral Commission and the PM’s prerogative powers, respectively. Devolution arrangements have also come into question, notably deciding whether Scottish attempts unilaterally to legislate for a second independence referendum are within devolved powers (Reference by the Lord Advocate of devolution issues under paragraph 34 of Schedule 6 to the Scotland Act 1998 2022). These developments complement the no less important case law on political spending (Animal Defenders v UK 2013) and prisoners’ voting (Hirst No 2 v UK 2005) decided, often controversially, by the European Court of Human Rights.

The course is conducted in the form of very participatory seminars and will incorporate student presentations on current developments.

Students in the course will:

- Learn about the main legislative, doctrinal, and constitutional principles, rules, and safeguards governing elections and referendums in the UK.

- Analyse and critically evaluate the impetus for and impact of recent legislative reform in the area of UK electoral law.

- Analyse and critically evaluate the doctrinal arguments and effects of recent UK judgments in the area of electoral law.

- Familiarise themselves with important comparator jurisdictions whose experience is relevant for the UK and be able to compare and contrast their key features.

- Understand the interplay between theories of democracy and the conduct of elections and referendums, in the UK and comparatively. Ìý

- Understand the interaction of and tensions between the domestic and European oversight of elections and referendums.