Paper Candidate - United Kingdom

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, major parties often find it difficult to field a full list of candidates for all council seats up for election, especial in the case of councils with "all-up" elections. Parties find it desirable to persuade people to stand as paper candidates so that:

• Supporters have an opportunity to vote for the party,

• The total vote obtained across the council and the nation is maximised,

• All seats are contested so there is no risk that candidates from other parties can be declared elected unopposed.

In Britain, being nominated as a local election candidate simply involves signing some forms, with no deposit required. A paper candidate will often do no campaigning at all and so be able to submit a zero return of election expenses, simplifying the paperwork for the election agent.

Some paper candidates stand in order to help their party but do not wish to be elected to the post in question. In fact, some paper candidates only agree to stand after receiving assurances that there is no "risk" of them getting elected.

However, in the case of an unexpected large swing to or from a particular party, there have been cases of paper candidates getting elected. For instance, in the so-called "poll tax election" of 1990, the Conservative government suffered heavily in the local elections due to the unpopularity of the poll tax. Many of the 163 net losses suffered by the Conservatives were seats that fell to paper candidates from the opposition Labour or Liberal Democrat parties.