Section 48 and Schedule 18: Powers to act for the protection of public health: Northern Ireland Section 69: Postponement of Scottish Parliament elections for constituency vacancies
This section enables the Presiding Officer ("PO") of the Scottish Parliament to postpone constituency by-elections. The power enables the PO to fix a later date for the poll where a date has been fixed or, where no date has been fixed, to fix a date that is outside the period required by section 9(3) of the Scotland Act 1998. The PO must fix a new date as soon as reasonably practicable. This power can be exercised more than once and this section specifies who the PO must consult before exercising the power. The power cannot be exercised to fix the date of a by-election after 6th May 2021.
	The territorial extent of this section is England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and application is Scotland only.