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Running for Office in New Brunswick
Getting Started
Anyone is qualified to be a candidate if they are qualified to vote.
One is ineligible to be a candidate if he or she is a mayor or councillor
of a municipality, a judge of the Court of Appeal or Court of Queen’s
Bench, or a judge appointed by the Provincial Court Act.
To become a candidate, a person must:
- Be nominated by 25 qualified electors in the district
- Submit a nomination paper by 2:00 PM on a day no more than 21
days, but no less than 11 days, after the date of the issuing
of the writ
A candidate can retract their deposit and withdraw their candidacy no
later than 48 hours prior to the start of polling. Withdraw must
be submitted as a written declaration to the returning officer, signed
by the candidate and two other qualified electors of that district.
A nomination deposit of $100 must be submitted along with the
nomination paper to the returning officer. The deposit is returned to the
candidate if they are elected or if they have achieved the number of votes
equal to at least half the number of votes polled for the winning
candidate. If a candidate dies after being nominated but prior to polling,
the deposit must be returned to the candidate’s representative.
A contribution is any service, money, or other property donated to a
political party, association, or person to support their political
purposes.
The following are not contributions:
- An individual’s donation of his or her personal services, talents or
expertise, or the use of his or her vehicle and the product of that
donation, where it is given freely and not as part of his or her work in
an employer’s service
- Amounts paid to a registered political party or candidate under any
Act
- A loan granted for political purposes at the current rate of
interest in the market at the time it is granted
- An annual amount of not more than $25 paid by a person as membership
dues in a political party
- An amount of not more than $25 paid in each case as registration
fees at political conventions
- An amount of not more than $10 paid in each case as an entrance fee
to an activity or demonstration of a political nature
- A personal donation (other than a money donation) for political
purposes (if the donation is made out of the property or undertaking of
that person; the total value of all such donations made by that person
in the calendar year is less than $100; and that person is not
reimbursed or rewarded in any way for having made the donation)
During a calendar year, an individual, corporation or trade union may
contribute no more than $6,000 to each registered party or a party’s
registered district association, and to registered independent candidates.
Only individuals, corporations, or trade unions may lawfully make
contributions, and such contributions must come from their own property.
Contributions may only be made to registered parties, registered district
associations, and registered candidates. No individual, corporation, or
trade union may accept any form of reimbursement or reward for having made
a contribution.
All anonymous contributions (or an amount equal to each anonymous
contribution) received by a registered party, district association, or
candidate must be returned to the contributor. If the contributor’s
identity cannot be established, the contribution must be handed over to
the Minister of Finance for deposit into the Consolidated Fund.
Election expenses are all expenditures incurred during an election
period for promoting or opposing, directly or indirectly, a candidate's
election or that of a candidate’s party.
- Expense laws also pertain to every person who is likely to become,
or subsequently is, a candidate, and the expenses they incurred prior to
the election period for literature, objects, or materials of an
advertising nature used during the election for such purposes
- Expenses may only be incurred in accordance with the law, and only
by or on the behalf of registered parties or candidates
The following are not considered election expenses:
- Publishing editorials, news, reports, or letters to the editor in a
newspaper or other periodical if they are published in the same manner
and under the same standards as prevail outside an election period,
without payment, reward or promise of payment or reward; and if the
newspaper, or other periodical is not established for the purpose of the
election or with a view to the election
- A broadcasting transmission of news or comment, if such broadcast is
made in the same manner and under the same standards that prevail
outside the election period, without payment, reward or promise of
payment or reward
- The reasonable expenses incurred by a candidate or any other person,
out of his or her own money, for his or her own transportation, lodging,
and food during a journey for election purposes, if such expenses are
not reimbursed to him or her
- The deposited sum required with a candidate’s nomination paper
- The reasonable expenses incurred for the publication of explanatory
commentaries on the Elections Act and the instructions issued under its
authority, if such commentaries are strictly objective and contain no
statements of such a nature to support or oppose a candidate or a
political party
- The reasonable expenses usually incurred for the current operation
of the principal permanent office of a registered political party in the
province, if the leader of such party, before the seventh day following
the issue of the writs of election has given written notice to the
Supervisor or the existence of such office, and of its exact address
- Expenditures incurred by any person in the course of or for the
purpose of making a donation not considered a contribution under the Act
- In a general election, a candidate's expenses cannot exceed
the amount equal to $1.75 multiplied by the number of electors
in the electoral district.
- In a by-election, a candidate's expenses cannot exceed the amount
equal to $2 for each of the electors in the electoral district
for which he or she is a candidate.
- The election expenses cannot exceed $22,000.
- The personal expenses of a candidate cannot exceed $2000.
- These amounts will be adjusted every year according to the Consumer
Price Index.
Candidate must submit a financial return to the Election Supervisor
within 90 days of the official day of polling. The return must cover the
period from the candidate’s registration or the date of his or her last
financial return, whichever is shorter. The return must set out the
required information under the law, and be accompanied by receipts,
invoices and other vouchers, with the exception that no candidate must
reveal his or her personal income.
Expenses reimbursement must be paid to each candidate who either was
elected or who received at least 15% of the valid votes cast in their
district. The Supervisor cannot issue a reimbursement until they have
received an election expenses return from the candidate.
This reimbursement must equal the lesser of:
- The amount of the candidate's election expenses as set out in his or
her statement (excluding claims contested by his or her official agent,
and excluding amounts representing the value of contributions from any
other candidate, and made by the candidate to the registered district
association associated with the candidate’s party in their electoral
district)
- The amount equal to the sum obtained by allowing 35¢ for each of the
electors in the electoral district and adding thereto the cost of
mailing a single one ounce first class letter to each elector in the
district.
Office of the Chief
Electoral Officer
The Elections Act for
New Brunswick
The Municipal
Elections Act for New Brunswick
The Elections Act
Regulations
The Elections Act
Regulations 2
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