The electoral office in Northern Ireland has been accused of limiting the number of venues where North Antrim voters can sign a petition to remove Ian Paisley as an MP.
Legislation allows for up to 10 centres to be set up in the constituency where a historic recall petition – which could oust the suspended Democratic Unionist party MP from his seat and force a byelection - can be signed over a six-week period.
However, the electoral office has decided to set up only three in North Antrim, one of which will be located in a Unionist stronghold.
The recall petition is the first of its kind and comes after Paisley was suspended last week. The parliamentary standards committee found him guilty of “serious misconduct” for failing to declare £50,000 of family holidays paid for by the Sri Lankan government in 2013.
He then breached the rules on paid advocacy by writing to David Cameron in 2014 to lobby against a UN resolution on human rights abuses in Sri Lanka.
Paisley’s suspension triggered a recall petition under the Recall of MPs Act 2015, which means that if 10% of North Antrim constituents sign the petition a byelection will take place.
Sinn Féin Northern Ireland assembly member Philip McGuigan said he had written to the electoral office urging it to put in place the maximum number of voting centres and introduce more flexible voting times.
“The decision by the electoral office to locate petitions in only three locations in a large rural constituency like North Antrim is extremely disappointing and greatly reduces people’s ability to reject Ian Paisley’s disgraceful behaviour,” he said.
“Some people will have to travel up to 20-25 miles to vote in one of these three centres and those who work outside of the constituency won’t have time to vote outside of working hours.”
McGuigan said the number of voting centres for the Paisley petition was significantly lower compared with last year’s general election, when 94 ballot boxes were set up in 49 locations across the constituency.
He added that some people would feel uncomfortable signing the petition at the Ballymoney centre because of the area’s strong unionist influence.
The Ulster Unionist party leader, Robin Swann, agreed with McGuigan that the number of venues was “totally inadequate” for the size of the constituency.
“I suspect that this very limited provision, both in terms of locations and timings, will lead to a larger than usual request for postal votes – and whether rightly or wrongly – this may well lead to accusations of voter identity abuse,” he said.
However, the chief electoral officer, Virginia McVea, rejected the criticism. “I could have opened one venue or I could have opened 10,” she told the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster. “This runs for a lengthy period – six weeks – and during that period I determined that it would be reasonable to expect people to be able to reach these three venues. In addition there is a change in the law in relation to the postal application.
“Anyone who chooses not to attend in person will be able to apply for the postal option and if their details are verified, can receive it within six weeks.”
The petition will run from 8 August to 19 September and will be available for signing on weekdays from 9am to 5pm in centres in Ballymoney, Ballymena and Ballycastle.