2008

NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

No. 85

(iii) Rejecting informal ballot papers; or

(b) If the returning officer considers it necessary, declare the election void and arrange for another election to be held.

(3) Any person who is elected to be a member of the council prior to a recount of votes in accordance with subclause (2) (a) of this rule, but who is not the candidate who is finally elected, shall be deemed not to be elected.

(4) If the irregularity occurred by reason of any registered medical practitioner acting otherwise than in good faith, the returning officer may report the matter to the president of the council.

13. Commencement of office—Every person elected to be a member of the Medical Council shall come into office on the day after the publication in the Gazette of the results of the election, such publication to be not more than 15 working days after the date of the election.

14. Filling of vacancies—(1) If the seat of an elected council member becomes vacant before the expiry of the member’s term of office and the vacating member was elected under the provisions of the Medical Practitioners (Election of Medical Members of Council) Rules 1999, the council shall instruct the CEO to—

(a) Leave the seat vacant; or

(b) (i) In the event of a vacancy occurring as a result of the death, resignation, or dismissal of an elected medical member of council (hereinafter called the “vacating member”), the council shall—subject to the proviso that the vacating member’s remaining term on the council is not less than 6 months—seek to fill the vacancy by means of recounting the votes originally cast in the election at which the vacating member was elected to the Medical Council of New Zealand.

(ii) Before the recount takes place, the CEO of the council will determine whether candidates who were not successful in the election at which the vacating member was elected are still prepared to be candidates for election as a medical member of council. In order to ascertain this, registered letters will be sent to all relevant candidates, and a period of not less than 2 weeks but not more than 4 weeks will be allotted for the receipt of their answers.

(iii) The recount of the single transferable votes cast in the original election will be conducted on the basis of the principles outlined in the Schedule Rules for Counting Votes, but in the recount preferences will flow through the vacating member as well as through any previously unsuccessful candidate who does not wish to be considered as a candidate for election in the recount.

(iv) Recounts undertaken for the purpose of filling a vacancy caused by the departure from the council of a vacating member will not invalidate the election of any candidate elected as a medical member of council in the original election.

(2) The term of office of a member appointed under subclause (1) (b) of this rule expires when the former council member’s term would have expired.

15. Notices to be sent to address in register—Every notice required to be sent to a registered medical practitioner pursuant to rule 6 of these rules, and every ballot paper required to be sent to a registered medical practitioner pursuant to rule 9 of these rules, shall be sent to the medical practitioner at his or her address set out in the register.

16. Revocation—The Medical Practitioners (Election of Members of Council) Rules 1996 are revoked.

Schedule

Rules for Counting the Votes

A Counting First Preferences—(1) The number of first preferences recorded for each candidate shall be counted.

(2) The aggregate number of first preferences so recorded shall be divided by one more than the number of candidates required to be elected, and the quotient increased by one, disregarding any remainder, shall be the quota, and (except as provided in rule G of this Schedule), a candidate who does not obtain a number of votes equal to or greater than the quota shall not be elected.

(3) A candidate who has, after the first preferences have been counted, a number of such preferences equal to or greater than the quota shall be declared elected.

B First Preferences Equal to or in Excess of Quota—(1) If the number of first preferences obtained by a candidate is equal to the quota, the whole of the voting papers on which a first preference is recorded for that candidate shall be set aside as finally dealt with.

(2) If the number of first preferences obtained by a candidate is in excess of the quota, the proportion of those preferences in excess of the quota shall be transferred to the other candidates not yet declared elected, next in the order of the respective preferences of the electors, in the following manner—

(a) all the voting papers on which a first preference is recorded for the elected candidate shall be re-examined, and the number of second preferences, or, in the case provided in rule I of this Schedule, third or next consecutive preferences, recorded for each unelected candidate shall be counted; and

(b) the surplus of the elected candidate shall be divided by the total number of votes obtained by the candidate on the counting of the first preferences, and the resulting fraction shall be the transfer value; and

(c) the number of second or other preferences, ascertained in paragraph (a) to be recorded for each unelected candidate, shall be multiplied by the transfer value; and

(d) the resulting number, disregarding any fractional remainder, shall be transferred to each unelected candidate, and added to the number of votes obtained by that candidate on the counting of the first preferences.

C Surpluses—(1) Where, on the counting of the first preferences or on a transfer, more than one candidate has a surplus, the largest surplus shall be dealt with first, and if at that stage more than one candidate has a surplus, the then largest surplus shall be dealt with, and so on, but if one candidate has obtained a surplus at a count or transfer previous to that at which another candidate obtains a surplus, the surplus of the former shall be dealt with first.

(2) Where 2 or more surpluses are equal, the surplus of the candidate who was the highest on the poll at the count or transfer at which they last had an unequal number of votes shall be dealt with first, and, if they have an equal number of votes at all preceding counts or transfers, the candidate to be dealt with first shall be decided by lot.

D Increase in Vote Equal to or in Excess of Quota—(1) If the number of votes obtained by a candidate is increased to a number which is equal to, or exceeds the quota by a transfer, the candidate shall be declared elected.

(2) In a case to which subclause (1) of this rule applies, notwithstanding the fact that the candidate may have reached the quota, the transfer shall be completed, and all the votes to which the candidate is entitled from the transfer