Due to a technical error in the qualification criteria for submissions for the ICAEW council election held in April, the ICAEW has confirmed that the result is invalid and it will have to rerun the elections in June.
There were errors in the nomination of two candidates in the London election, and one in each of the Manchester and North West elections, which have invalidated their candidacy. A similar error occurred in the nomination for the vacancy in South Essex but this was uncontested so there is no requirement for a revote.
As result, the ICAEW will hold a second round of elections, probably in June following the next AGM scheduled for 4 June.
It is understood that the errors were due to confusion over registered addresses so some nominees were endorsed by members outside of their geographic area as well as by non-members in some instances.
In a statement to candidates, ICAEW director, strategy and governance, Les Smith said: 'Having consulted with the chief executive [Michael Izza] as the 'returning officer' for Council elections, he has decided to declare the elections invalid and to instruct that they be rerun.
'We believe that this is the fairest way of dealing with the situation that we have and that this is the right thing to do in the circumstances.
'The chief executive will issue a new notice for the elections at the end of May. We will review the regulations to determine whether those candidates who were validly nominated can rely on their earlier nominations.'
It is not clear whether existing nominees, with correct original submissions, will have to resubmit their full applications or will automatically be re-entered into the ballot.
A spokesman for ICAEW confirmed that the institute is currently reviewing its election constitution and bye-laws to see whether it would have to ask existing candidates to redo their nominations.
'The fairest way is to start again. For people standing again, it is our starting point that we want to make it as easy as possible but we are reviewing our constitution'.
Nominators have to be resident in the relevant constituency for a fixed period during the nomination period and this may have changed due to the misadministration of the voting process.