Arunawasthi at 00:12, 27 January 2022

2022-01-27T00:12:23Z

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{{Politics}}

In [[politics]], a '''casual vacancy''' (''casual'' in the sense of "by chance") is a situation in which a seat in a deliberative assembly becomes vacant during that assembly's term. Casual vacancies may arise through the [[death in office|death]], [[resignation]] or disqualification of the sitting member, or for other reasons.

Casual vacancies have the effect of eliminating or reducing the representation for the member's constituency. Accordingly, many jurisdictions provide by law for the speedy filling of vacant seats.

Casual vacancies can also occur in non-governmental assemblies, such as [[board of directors|boards of directors]] and [[committee]]s of [[voluntary organisation]]s.

Methods of filling a casual vacancy to an elected body include:
* [[by-election]] or special election, of the same electorate which voted in the vacating member
* [[co-option]], by the remaining members of the body
* appointment or nomination, by a different body or office holder
* automatic succession, of a [[substitute (elections)|substitute]] or from a [[replacement list]], fixed at the time of the original election
* [[Issues affecting the single transferable vote#Countback|countback]], used in [[single transferable vote]] elections: recounting the ballots of the original election and redistributing those allocated to the vacating member

==Australia==
{{See also|Casual vacancies in the Australian Parliament}}
The method used to fill casual vacancies vary between jurisdictions.

On the federal level, casual vacancies in the [[Australian House of Representatives]] are filled using [[by-election]]s.<ref>{{cite web |title=COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA CONSTITUTION ACT - SECT 33 Writs for vacancies |url=http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/coaca430/s33.html |website=classic.austlii.edu.au |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref> Casual vacancies for the [[Australian Senate]] are required to be filled by someone of the same party as the departing senator, and a joint sitting of the departing senator's state/territory parliament decides the person who will fill the vacancy.<ref>{{cite web |title=COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA CONSTITUTION ACT - SECT 15 Casual vacancies [see Note 8] |url=http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/coaca430/s15.html |website=classic.austlii.edu.au |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref>

Casual vacancies in the [[Tasmanian House of Assembly]],<ref name = TAS>{{cite web |title=View - Tasmanian Legislation Online |url=https://www.legislation.tas.gov.au/view/whole/html/inforce/current/act-2004-051 |website=www.legislation.tas.gov.au |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref> [[Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Electoral Act 1992 |url=http://www.legislation.act.gov.au/a/1992-71/current/pdf/1992-71.pdf |website=ACT Legislation Register |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref> and [[Western Australian Legislative Council]]<ref name=WA>{{cite web |title=Electoral Act 1907 |url=https://www.legislation.wa.gov.au/legislation/prod/filestore.nsf/FileURL/mrdoc_29498.htm/$FILE/Electoral%20Act%201907%20-%20%5B17-a0-06%5D.html?OpenElement |website=www.legislation.wa.gov.au |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref> are filled by countbacks. Casual vacancies in the [[Tasmanian Legislative Council]],<ref name = TAS/> [[Queensland Legislative Assembly]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Queensland By-Elections |url=https://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/documents/explore/education/factsheets/Factsheet_6.1_ByElections.pdf |website=Parliament of Queensland |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref> [[Western Australian Legislative Assembly]],<ref name = WA/> [[Victorian Legislative Assembly]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Electoral Act 2002 |url=https://content.legislation.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-04/02-23aa062%20authorised.pdf |website=Victorian Legislation |publisher=Parliament of Victoria |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref> [[South Australian House of Assembly]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Electoral Act 1985 |url=https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/ELECTORAL%20ACT%201985/CURRENT/1985.77.AUTH.PDF |website=www.legislation.sa.gov.au |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref> and [[New South Wales Legislative Assembly]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Electoral Act 2017 No 66 |url=https://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/pdf/asmade/act-2017-66 |website=legislation.nsw.gov.au |publisher=Parliament of New South Wales |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref> are filled by-elections. Casual vacancies in the [[New South Wales Legislative Council]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Constitution Act 1902 |url=http://www6.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/legis/nsw/consol_act/ca1902188/s22d.html |website=www6.austlii.edu.au |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref> [[South Australian Legislative Council]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Constitution Act 1934|url=https://www.legislation.sa.gov.au/LZ/C/A/CONSTITUTION%20ACT%201934/CURRENT/1934.2151.AUTH.PDF |website=www.legislation.sa.gov.au |access-date=1 December 2020}}</ref> and [[Victorian Legislative Council]].<ref>Section 27A of the {{url|https://www.legislation.vic.gov.au/in-force/acts/constitution-act-1975|''Constitution Act 1975'' (Vic, No. 8750 of 1975)}}.</ref> are filled by election in a joint sitting of both chambers of the respective state parliament; the elected member must be from the same party as the previous member at the time of the previous member's election (or an independent, if the previous member was elected as an independent).

==Canada==
Vacancies in the [[House of Commons of Canada]] are filled by the scheduling of a [[by-election]] in the affected district. The [[Writ of election|writ for a by-election]] must be [[dropping the writ|dropped]] no sooner than 11 days and no later than 180 days after the [[Chief Electoral Officer (Canada)|Chief Electoral Officer]] is officially notified of a vacancy via a warrant issued by the [[Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada|Speaker]]. Under the [[Canada Elections Act]], the minimum length of a campaign is 36 days between dropping the writ and election day.<ref name=hillaug>{{cite news|url=http://www.hilltimes.com/news/news/2013/08/12/journalists-vying-for-seat-in-commons-shows-politics-changing-spector/35576|title=Journalists vying for seat in Commons shows politics changing: Spector|publisher=The Hill Times|access-date=August 12, 2013}}</ref> A seat can, in some cases, be vacant for even longer; prior to the [[2015 Canadian federal election|2015 federal election]], for example, [[Stephen Harper]] had to call three by-elections in 2015. However, as the length of time the seats were vacant required that a byelection be called but the length of time remaining before the general election campaign began was too short to justify actually holding one, he scheduled the by-election dates as the date of the general election itself — a technical formality which essentially meant that a by-election was scheduled but would never actually be held. The by-elections were superseded by the general election at the dissolution of parliament on August 2, 2015 and the dropping of the federal election writ.<ref name=super>{{cite web|title=By-elections called for October 19, 2015 – What you need to know|url=http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx?section=ele&dir=2015&document=faqby2015&lang=e|website=Elections Canada|publisher=Elections Canada|access-date=July 4, 2015}}</ref>

As the [[Senate of Canada]] is an appointed rather than elected body, vacancies in that body are simply filled with a new appointment.

By-elections are also held to fill vacancies in Canada's provincial or territorial legislatures.

== India ==
Section 151A of the [[Representation of the People Act, 1951]] mandates the [[Election Commission of India|Election Commission]] to fill the casual vacancies in the [[Parliament of India|Houses of Parliament]] and [[State legislature (India)|State Legislatures]] through [[By-election|bye elections]] within six months from the date of occurrence of the vacancy, provided that the remainder of the term of a member in relation to a vacancy is one year or more.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Section 151A of the Representation of the People Act 1951 mandates ECI to fill casual vacancies |url=https://pib.gov.in/pib.gov.in/Pressreleaseshare.aspx?PRID=1549006 |access-date=2023-01-14 |website=pib.gov.in}}</ref>

==Singapore==
A [[by-election]] is usually called when an incumbent [[Parliament of Singapore|MP]] vacates his or her seat in a [[Constituencies of Singapore#Single Member Constituencies|SMC]] or when all MPs vacates their seat together in a GRC.

In a recent case according to then Minister in the [[Prime Minister's Office (Singapore)|Prime Minister's Office]] [[Chan Chun Sing]], a by-election need not be called if a GRC MP resigns or is incapacitated in any way. The reason is the GRC scheme is meant to achieve two purposes: Ensure there are enough minority members in the House and ensure no political campaigning is done on issues of race and religion. These goals would not be affected if one member of the GRC left, Mr Chan added. However it did not cater for instances where the minority race MP vacates their seat hence the [[Singapore Democratic Party|SDP]] filed a suit to clarify the matter.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/sdp-files-lawsuit-challenging-decision-not-to-call-by-election-9213508 |title=SDP files lawsuit challenging decision not to call by-election in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC - Channel NewsAsia |website=www.channelnewsasia.com |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170913123545/http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/singapore/sdp-files-lawsuit-challenging-decision-not-to-call-by-election-9213508 |archive-date=2017-09-13}} </ref> The High Court judge rejected the bid to hold a by-election and SDP withdraws the suit after a thorough explanation by the Deputy AG.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sg.news.yahoo.com/bid-hold-election-marsiling-yew-tee-rejected-high-court-090607976.html|title=Bid to hold by-election in Marsiling-Yew Tee rejected by High Court}}</ref>

==New Zealand==
{{As of|2008}}, the [[New Zealand House of Representatives]] has 70 seats whose members represent geographical constituencies, and a further 52 seats selected from party lists. A vacancy in any of the 70 "electorate seats" is filled through a [[by-election]]. The writ for the by-election must, in most circumstances, be issued within 21 days of the notification of the vacancy. A by-election is not required if Parliament is due to expire within six months.

By contrast, a vacancy in one of the "list seats" is filled by the next available candidate on the list submitted by the [[political party|party]] holding that seat.

==United States==
The term "casual vacancy" is not commonly used in the United States. A vacancy in the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] is filled by a special election. The [[United States Constitution|Constitution]] requires the executive authority (i.e. the governor) of the state concerned to issue writs of election.

The [[Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|seventeenth amendment]] provides that vacancies in the [[United States Senate|Senate]] filled by an appointment by the [[Governor (United States)|governor]] unless the legislature of the state concerned has passed a law providing some other means to fill the vacancy, such as a popular election.

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casual Vacancy}}
[[Category:Elections]]

Casual vacancy - Revision history

Arunawasthi at 00:12, 27 January 2022