Elections of the excepted hereditary peers were held in October and November 1999, before the House of Lords Act 1999 excluded most hereditary peers from the membership of the House of Lords allowing Earl Marshal, Lord Great Chamberlain and 90 others to remain in the House.
[1] Before the passing of the 1999 Act, the Lords approved a Standing Order stating that those 90 would consist of: The elections used a version of plurality block voting: voters were required to rank candidates in order of preference for the number of seats available, with the candidates receiving the greatest number of votes, without regard to the ranking on the ballots, declared elected.
Preference order was only considered in the cases of ties.
Since November 2002, by-elections have been held to fill vacancies.
The result was as follows:[2] 75 excepted hereditary peers were elected by hereditary peers of three parties and crossbenchers in elections held from 3 to 4 November 1999.