Local elections
Local elections are held every five years in the month of May or June. To vote in a local election, you must be eligible to vote and registered to vote in your local electoral area. To stand as a candidate in a local election, you must go through a nomination process.
In this section
How to vote in local elections
To vote in local elections, you must be:
- Resident in Ireland
- 18 years or over on the day of the election
- Registered to vote
You do not need to be an Irish citizen to vote in local elections.
You can register to vote or update your details on the electoral register at CheckTheRegister.ie.
For more details on registering to vote see the Electoral Register article in our services section.
How to stand as a candidate in a local election
If you would like to stand as a candidate in a local election, you must be nominated.
Nominations take place over a one-week period, four weeks before polling day.
You can nominate yourself or be nominated by another person who is registered to vote in the local electoral area. You can be nominated to stand for election in more than one local electoral area.
How to nominate someone for local elections
To nominate yourself or someone else for local elections, you must fill out a nomination form (LE1). The LE1 form can be downloaded from your local authority website, or accessed by contacting the Returning Officer for your local authority. Once complete, the form must be returned to the Returning Officer, who must declare whether or not the form is valid within one hour of receiving it. You may need to make an appointment to submit your form to the Returning Officer.
Standing for local election as a member of a political party
If you are a member of a political party, you must provide a Certificate of Party Affiliation along with your nomination form.
Standing for local election as an independent candidate
If you are an independent candidate with no affiliation to a political party, you can describe yourself as ‘Non-Party’ or leave the section blank on your form. However, to stand as an independent candidate you will need to complete one of the following procedures:
- Option 1: The completion of statutory declarations by 15 assenters registered in the local electoral area, witnessed by a Commissioner for Oaths, a Peace Commissioner, a Notary Public, a member of the Garda Síochána or an official of the registration authority.
- Option 2: The candidate or someone acting on the candidate’s behalf lodges a deposit of €100 to the Returning Officer.
You only need to follow one of these procedures.
To find out more about standing as a candidate in a local election, contact the Returning Officer for your local authority.