Home > 2.1 The competent bodies and their tasks > UNITED KINGDOM - Opinion on the Electoral Law
 
 
 
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Paragraph 58
 
 
58.  Moreover, the enactment of these measures complies with an additional criterion regulating the principle of equality: non arbitrariness. This means that the logical connection between the legitimate aim pursued and the measures proposed can be imputed to a careful study of the facts and a perusal of the available means. In the case under review, the measures cannot be considered arbitrary at all, since they result from a detailed process of fact finding and adjustment of legislation. Thus, the United Kingdom Government and Parliament have been concerned with the existence of electoral fraud in Northern Ireland in the last years. In 2001, the Government reviewed the situation and made a number of recommendations in order to improve the legislation and the measures to combat fraud.[28] This sustained situation motivated the enactment of the Electoral Fraud (Northern Ireland) Act 2002. However, the Parliament has conducted a study and inquiries on the same topic, the results of which are compiled in two reports of Session 2004-2005.[29] Finally, the Electoral Commission has also followed the electoral reforms in Northern Ireland, its effects and its consequences, especially the voter registration decline, due both to people not responding to the canvass and people never being registered.[30] Within this framework, the Commission gave a commitment to monitor the impact of the Act on electoral registration and commissioned a series of registration updates focusing on various aspects of the registration process, the last of which is from 22 August 2007.[31]