22 February 2000
 
 

Dear Professor Sikka

Elections to Council 2000

I refer to your fax of 16 February 2000 and to your revised election address sent on
the same day.

ACCA's legal advice is that the exclusion from election addresses of references to web sites is a correct procedure in order to ensure that the 180 word limit is applied fairly and is not circumvented.  Council has recently reaffirmed that such references should not be included in election addresses.

There is nothing in the bye-laws which obliges ACCA to publish candidates'election addresses.  Please let me know whether or not you wish us to publish your address without the reference to your web site.

You asked what constitutes a "word" and how long it should be.  The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a word as 'a sound or combination of sounds forming a meaningful element of speech, usually shown with a space. on either side- of it when written or printed, used as part of a sentence".  Clearly the length of a word depends on the word in question.

Yours sincerely