Should members of a committee declare their interest in a subject when voting?

Answer 1

Of course. conflicts of interests are very common in these situations tho.

Answer 2

I'm not sure what type of committee you are speaking of. If you mean committee's that have to do with government then the members of any committee associated usually follow Robert's Rule Of Order.

Robert's Rule Of Order is a guide to parliamentary procedure. Parliamentary being defined as -in accordance with the formal rules governing the methods of procedure, discussion, and debate in deliberative bodies and organized assemblies.

Anyways, this is what Roberts Rule Of Order stipulates in regards to voting when a potential conflict of interest may apply -

When a motion is of direct personal or monetary interest of the member and no one else than the member **should** not vote. This is when they **should** abstain. Key word being should. Most of the time the member voting will not take a chance and vote when a known conflict of interest exists, they follow Robert's Rule of Order. Reason being that other members of the committtee normally know who on the committee has a conflict of interest with what. If proven that a member has abused the voting "rules" they can be brought before a Ethics Committee and be sanctioned in some way.

Also, it is possible for an abstention to affect a vote. Depending on whether the vote is qualified as a "majority of those present" or a "majority of the entire membership". An example is- If the bylaws go by "majority of those present" and you have 20 people present the majority is 11. If 10 vote in the affirmative and nine vote in the negative and 1 "abstains" the motion fails becuase it took 11 positive votes for the motion to pass.

It can get confusing...

Answer 3

Yes. it should be written into the constitution of the organisation.

If there is a conflict of interest this should also be declared and the committee member should discuss the subject with other members, should not take part in the discussion and should not vote.

Answer 4

Yes, always cover yourself. An example in Law was R v Bow Street Metropolitan Stipendiary Magistrates Court, ex parte Pinochet Ugarte (No 2) [2000]. 1 AC 119

Pinochet was a former dictator residing in the UK for whom extradition was sought. To cut a long story short, one of the Law Lords involved in the appeal case was a director and chairperson of Amnesty international. Because he was one of the judges that heard the case it was ruled that there had to be a retrial because it could be construed that the judge may be seen to have a conflict of interest. This was His Lordship, Lord Hoffman.

Be mindful that these issues go all the way to the top. This case went to the House of Lords. Always declare any pecuniary interest or other interest to your organisation. If you don't the consequences could be very serious.


I hope this helps to answer your question.

Answer 5

Yes, of course. Generally speaking there will be 2 different types of interest. First, a non-prejudicial and second a prejudicial interest. A non-prejudicial interest will be one that should be declared but is not so significant to preclude the declarer from taking part in the discussion or be able to vote. A prejudicial interest however, would be such where there declarer or his/her family receive some sort of monetary advantage from their interest - therefore they should declare this interest, withdraw from that element of the discussion and take no part in voting.

Answer 6

Yes,as they should declare any conflict of interest too.

Answer 7

Clearly they should. In fact they probably should abstain from voting so that there can be no accusations of preference at a later date

Answer 8

Yes unless you are a New Labour member.

Answer 9

yes....because of possible conflict of interest

Answer 10

dont understand that question