Nomination papers for the 2020 General Election were released to a requester despite an initial refusal to disclose them, the Parliamentary Registrar said.

Tenia Woolridge also confirmed that certain information was redacted from the records.

Gitanjali Gutierrez, the Information Commissioner, earlier ordered the registry to disclose a set of 86 nomination papers by October 7.

A summary to her decision, which was published last month, explained: “The applicant had submitted a public access to information request in March 2021 for copies of the notices posted at every election hall, showing the names of each candidate, their proposer and their seconder, for the 2020 General Election (Public Notices).”

It said the Parliamentary Registry denied the request in line with a section of Pati legislation that allowed refusal if the record "does not exist or cannot be found after all reasonable steps have been taken to find it“.

The summary added that access to the nomination papers, which contained information similar to that in the public notices, was also refused.

It explained that in her decision, Gitanjali Gutierrez, the Information Commissioner, “affirmed the Parliamentary Registry’s refusal of access to the public notices, being satisfied that the registry had taken all reasonable steps to locate the records before concluding they could not be found”.

The summary added: “However, regarding the nomination papers, the Information Commissioner has reversed the registry’s refusal to disclose these records.”

Ms Gutierrez said in her decision, dated August 26, 2022, that in the course of her review, the Parliamentary Registry clarified that an exemption in the Public Access to Information Act was used to deny access to the nomination papers.

The clause that was applied allowed for exemption if disclosure of records was prohibited by any other statutory provision.

The Parliamentary Registry cited a section of the Parliamentary Election Act, which meant the Registrar must not allow anyone else to have access to certain documents unless ordered by the Supreme Court.

But Ms Gutierrez was not satisfied that the nomination papers fell within that prohibition on disclosure.

In turn, that meant she was not convinced that the nomination papers could be denied under the Pati Act clause.

Ms Gutierrez, in her findings, reiterated a note from an earlier decision, where she said: “As part of the good governance reforms in the public service to promote transparency and improve accountability, information previously protected as a matter of policy or practice within Government is precisely the type of information to which the Pati Act now provides public access, unless it properly falls within a listed exemption.”

Her decision added: “The commissioner has ordered the Registry to disclose the set of 86 nomination papers as redacted records, with exempt personal information removed, to the applicant by Friday, October 7, 2022.”

Ms Woolridge said last week: “I can confirm that the requester has received the redacted copies of the nomination papers. ”