Filling Vacancies

It's a sad fact that during the term of most legislatures (A Congress = 2 years; A Parliament = up to 5 years) there will be the occasional death of a Member.

Senator Craig Thomas died on June 4th. The Governor of Wyoming named John Barrasso to fill the vacant Senate seat until a special election is held in November 2008. The process of electing a successor to Representative Charlie Norwood in the 10th District of Georgia will continue to a runoff on July 17th because no candidate won over 50% in the special election held last Tuesday.

In the UK Piara Khabra died this week. A by-election will be announced shortly, in which the electors of Ealing Southall will choose his successor. On June 9th Lord Ewing of Kirkford died. As a life peer he will not be replaced. Only when one of the hereditaries dies is there considered to be a vacancy in the House of Lords. A by-election is held - with members of the relevant group (Labour; Conservative; Liberal Democrats; Crossbenchers) in the House electing the successor.