Selecting UK Election Candidates
How Are Candidates in a British General Election Chosen?
May 23, 2008
In order to become a candidate in a British general election, an interested person must first demonstrate that they are eligible for election and then must go through a stringent selection procedure.
How Are Candidates Selected?
Simply put, any eligible person can become a candidate in a British general election whether they are a member of a political party or not.
However, there are certain standard procedures that must be followed. Any candidate wishing to stand for election must be nominated on an official nomination form that gives their full name and address. The form also contains space for an optional 6-word political or personal statement. The nomination form must also include the signatures of 10 electors who support the candidate, including a proposer and a seconder.
The candidate is then responsible for consenting to their nomination in writing. They must also pay a £500 deposit which is forfeited if they fail to gain at least 5% of the votes cast in their constituency.
The nomination paperwork and deposit must be submitted to the returning office in the candidate’s constituency during a specified time in the election campaign.
The Best Chance of Success
Although any eligible person can stand, in order to have a realistic chance of success a candidate needs to represent one of the 3 main British political parties or a nationalist or unionist party in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Candidates that have been approved by their political party are advised of vacancies within the constituency as they arise and the local party organisation are expected (although not compelled) to consult the list of approved candidates before they select who they wish to represent them. Usually a shortlist of potential candidates is drawn up and then interviews are held.
The candidate selected by the local party organisation must then be approved by the party nationally (for example, labour candidates must be approved by the National Executive of the Labour Party). If the national organisation do not approve of the prospective candidate, they can overrule the local party organisation and select their own candidate but such a measure would be likely to alienate potential voters.
After Selection
Once a candidate has been officially selected, the security of their situation depends upon the party which they represent. Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs remain as their party’s candidates between elections unless they stand down or, as rarely happens, they are deselected by their local party organisation. Labour MPs, on the other hand, must undergo reselection procedures in their constituencies before each general election.
References:
McLean, I. and McMillan, A. (2003) The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics (2nd Rev Ed.) (Oxford University Press)
Jones, B. et al (2006) Politics UK (6th Ed.) (Longman)
Kingdom, J. (2003) Government and Politics in Britain: An Introduction (3rd Ed.) (Polity Press)
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