As announced by the Presiding Officer, the selection of the Parliament’s nominee for First Minister will take place at 2.00pm today.
The nomination period will open at 9.30am and close at 1.30pm. Nominations must be submitted on official nomination forms. These will be available to collect from the Parliamentary Business Team in T1.03, from 9.30am. Completed forms must be returned there by 1.30pm.
The process for selection of the nominee for First Minister will take place at 2.00 pm. At the start of proceedings, each of the nominees will be called in alphabetical order to address the Chamber for up to five minutes.
Where more than one Member is nominated, Members will be given the opportunity to vote “yes” for one candidate, using the digital voting system. The votes for each candidate will be taken in alphabetical order and Members may vote only once. Only “yes” votes will be counted.
Once the voting for candidates is completed, Members who have not voted for a candidate will then have an opportunity to vote to abstain by pressing “yes”. If any Member records a vote more than once, all of that Member’s votes will be treated as spoiled.
Where only one nomination is received, that candidate will be invited to address the Chamber. Members will then be invited to vote for or against that candidate or to abstain.
Members are reminded that the digital voting system will be used in this process.
