Commentary on Sections Part 2: Gibraltar Section 20: Returning officers
37.Section 20 provides for the returning officer for the Gibraltar part of the combined electoral region. In UK European Parliamentary elections there are two types of returning officer: the regional returning officer and the local returning officers. The regional returning officer’s task is, broadly, to co-ordinate the work of, and collect the results from, the local returning officers. Local returning officers are usually Parliamentary acting returning officers, within the meaning of section 28 of the Representation of the People Act 1983, who are themselves usually the electoral registration officers for the local authorities in which the constituencies are situated. Their functions, and those of the regional returning officers, are set out in regulations made under section 6 of the 2002 Act.
38.In Gibraltar, the local returning officer will be the Gibraltar European Parliamentary electoral registration officer. The regional returning officer for the combined region (including Gibraltar), will be selected by the Lord Chancellor under section 6(2) of the 2002 Act from acting returning officers in the UK part of the combined region.