In a representative democracy, the term paper candidate is often given to a candidate who stands for a political party in an electoral division where the party in question enjoys only low levels of support. Although the candidate has little chance of winning, a major party will normally make an effort to ensure it has its name on the ballot paper in every constituency.
Paper candidates may be local party members or members from neighbouring areas, or sometimes members from central office. The main purpose of fielding paper candidates is to maintain or improve the profile of a political party. The paper candidates themselves do no campaigning and neither incur nor claim any expenses. Despite this, however, in some unusual circumstances paper candidates have actually won the election.
In Britain paper candidates are commonly fielded in different locations by all the major parties in both Local and National Elections.
Read more about Paper Candidate: United Kingdom, Canada
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