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PM Speaker Vote - ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio 4

On Friday the 19th June 2009, PM on Radio 4 will launch a vote to find the listeners' choice for the position of Speaker of the House of Commons.

One of the 4 potential candidates each day has been given an opportunity to state their case as to why they should be the next Speaker, starting on Monday the 15th June 2009 and ending Thursday the 18 June 2009. On the 19th June 2009 the 4 candidates will then discuss their proposals on the show and thereafter the voting lines will open.

The voting lines will open at approximately 18:00 Friday 19th June 2009 and will close at approx 12:00 midday on Monday 22nd June 2009.

The result of the vote will be announced on PM on Monday 22nd June 2009.

Rules and Regulations

1. Voting is open to all UK residents (incl. Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) aged 16 or over. Any person directly connected to the production of the programme or the provision of the telephony service is not eligible to vote.

2. Voting is by telephone only. The voting numbers to be used will be announced during the programme and will be available on the PM Blog at www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/pm. Calls cost 15p from a BT landline, calls from other networks may vary. Calls from mobiles will cost considerably more.

3. Voters must ensure they obtain the bill-payer's consent before voting.

4. There is a maximum of 5 votes per telephone number (the cap also applies to switchboards). The ´óÏó´«Ã½ reserves the right to disqualify votes or suspend voting if it has reasonable grounds to suspect that fraudulent voting has occurred or it considers that there has been an attempt to rig the vote. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ has the right to substitute an alternative selection method at its absolute discretion.

5. Votes received after the voting lines have closed will not be accepted but may still be charged.

6. The voting will be independently verified and no correspondence relating to the voting will be entered into.

7. If you are listening to the show on the ´óÏó´«Ã½ iPlayer or any other catch-up service you should ensure that the voting lines have not closed before voting.

8. This is not a competition and there will be no prizes for the person who votes for the favourite candidate.

9. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ reserves the right to change, cancel or suspend this event at any time and for whatsoever reason.

10. If the voting system fails, for any reason, a contingency plan will be actioned. This may consist of the judging panel who originally compiled the shortlist of candidates deciding the winner of the vote.

11. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for any technical failure, malfunction or any other problem with the telephone voting system which may result in any vote being lost or not properly registered or recorded.

12. The voting in this programme accords with the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s Code of Conduct for Competitions and Voting. This is a public vote and the outcome in no way represents the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s opinion.

13. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ will only use personal data for the purposes of this event, and will not publish or provide them to anyone without permission. The ´óÏó´«Ã½ complies with the Data Protection Act 1998 and you can read more this on /privacy/