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Timetable announced for election of Backbench Business Committee Chair

18 May 2016

The Speaker of the Commons has announced the timetable for the election of  the Chair for the Backbench Business Committee for the current Session.

Timetable and process

Nominations will be open from 10am to 5pm on Tuesday 24 May. If there is more than one candidate, the election will be held from 11am to 1.30pm on Wednesday 25 May.

All MPs can vote in the election. The ballot papers will be counted under the Alternative Vote system. Any candidate who receives more than half the first preferences will be elected. If no candidate is so elected, the candidate or candidates with the lowest number of first preference votes is eliminated and their votes distributed among the remaining candidates according to the preferences on them. If no candidate has more than half the votes, the process of elimination and distribution is repeated.

No Member may be a candidate for the position if his or her party is represented in Her Majesty's Government.

The Committee's Chair is elected at the beginning of each Session of Parliament.

Backbench Business Committee

The Backbench Business Committee meets weekly on Tuesdays to consider requests for debates from any backbench Members of Parliament on any subject.

The Committee then has to decide how to allocate the limited Parliamentary time it has at its disposal. The Committee's meetings are always conducted in public and can be watched on Parliament TV.

Further Information

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