News

Rishi Sunak, Prime Minister, has announced that the next General Election will take place on Thursday 4 July 2024.

Charities in Northern Ireland have strong links to their local communities and beneficiaries.  They play a valuable role in informing elected representatives while representing their diverse causes.  The guiding principle of charity law in terms of campaigning, political activity and elections is that charities should be, and be seen to be, independent of party politics.

The Charity Commission for Northern Ireland has produced Charities and politics guidance to help charities understand how they can fulfil their role coming up to the election.  They have also published an updated thematic report: Charities and political campaigning – staying compliant which shares lessons from other elections.

The Electoral Commission for Northern Ireland has also produced guidance on Non-party campaigners UK Parliamentary general elections.  Non-party campaigners are organisations or individuals that are not standing for election themselves but are spending money on certain election-related activities or material, seeking to influence the outcome of the election.  This could be for or against individual candidates or political parties, or campaigning on particular issues.

If a charity is planning to undertake any campaign activity in the run-up to the election in July 2024, then the rules could affect you and you should read the Electoral Office guidance to see whether you need to register with them.

Charities must also be aware of new laws on digital imprints.  When certain campaign material is published, it must contain specific details to show who is responsible for publishing it.  These details are known as an ‘imprint’.  The imprint helps to ensure there is transparency for voters about who is campaigning.  The Electoral Commission have published guidance on these new rules about digital imprints: Statutory guidance on digital imprints.

If you have any queries, you can contact the Electoral Commission by using the following details:

The Electoral Commission,
The Boat,
49 Queen’s Square,
Belfast, BT1 3FG

Telephone: 0333 103 1928

Email:  [email protected]