Part 1: Espionage, sabotage and persons acting for foreign powers Foreign interference Section 16: Foreign Interference in elections
This section makes provision for substantially increased maximum penalties in respect of certain existing electoral offences if the foreign power condition in section 32 is met in relation to the person’s conduct which constitutes the offence. For the increased maximum penalty to apply both conditions in subsection (1) must be met: a person must commit a "relevant electoral offence" and the conduct constituting the offence must meet the foreign power condition (see section 32).
	Subsection (2) states that the list of "relevant electoral offences" can be found in column 1 of the table in Part 1 of Schedule 1. These offences are drawn from the Representation of the People Act 1983 (RPA) and the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA). Under these Acts, there are criminal offences for interfering or adversely affecting an election or referendum or failing to comply with donation rules to a political party.
	Offences in column 1 of the table in Part 1 of Schedule 1 include offences in the RPA for unduly influencing an individual to vote a certain way or not vote at all, bribing a person to vote, tampering with ballot or nomination papers, and personating a voter and voting multiple times where not applicable. Specific offences under the PPERA include offences relating to the evasion of restrictions on the source of donations.
	Subsection (3) and (4) together state that a person who commits an offence under this section is triable on indictment and reference the maximum penalties set out in column 2 of the table at Schedule 1.
	Subsection (5) states that where an offence is found to have been committed over a period of 2 or more days, or at some time during a period of 2 or more days, it must be taken for the purposes of subsection (1) to have been committed on the first of those days.
	Subsection (6) references amendments set out in Part 2 of the table in Schedule 1. These amendments concern existing provisions in the Representation of the People Act 1983 and the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 as they apply to the provisions of this section.
Example 1 (an offence in the Representation of the People Act 1983)
Person A uses false identities to cast multiple proxy votes in a general election as part of a campaign by a foreign power to interfere with the result of an election in a UK constituency. Person A is acting under the direction of a foreign power and is guilty of an offence relating to applications for postal and proxy votes.
Example 2 (an offence in the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000)
A foreign power uses influential members of its diaspora community to interfere in UK democracy. To do this, they seek to finance a political party in the UK in order to gain influence in the UK political system. Person B is a UK citizen and registered UK elector, and as such a permissible donor. The foreign power (which is an impermissible donor) provides Person B with funds and instructs them to use those funds to make a donation to a political party. When making the donation, Person B does not declare that they are making the donation on behalf of a foreign power, and simply provide their own details, because they know the foreign power would be an impermissible donor. In doing so Person B has committed an offence relating to the evasion of restrictions on donations.