Think you can outdo the political mob?

So you’d like to stand for parliament? There's still time and if you have a spare £500 to burn you may yet be up before the electorate on 6 May. Provided that is you're not a convicted criminal. The absolute deadline for getting your nominations in to your local Returning Officer is 4pm on Tuesday 20 April. You need to be be …

[Gordon is not a Moron]

or how about...

the "I've got a bet on that no-one will vote for me" party ? Then stick a bet on that you get enough votes to retain your deposit.

[Code Monkey]

None of the Above

If a move to electronic voting looked like eliminating the the honoured institution of the spoiled ballot, that's exactly what I'll do.

[Clarissa]

Or maybe not...

Under UK Law it is illegal to register a political party with that name.

See Statutory Instrument 2005 #147 which came into effect on 2005-02-19

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2005/20050147.htm

There is however a NOTA party out there.

[chr0m4t1c]

Or

Just change your name by deed-poll.

"Non of the Above: Independent"

Anybody got a spare £500?

[Scott Green]

Um. not quite

As Jury team are not contesting Cambridge, OH is actually standing as an Independent

[Anonymous Coward]

jury team?

looks like an easy mistake to make:

http://www.juryteam.org/view-candidates.php?constituency=Cambridge

[Jimmy Floyd]

Mandy

"Provided that is you're not a convicted criminal."

In which case Gordon will put you in the House of Lords. I knew there was a reason they reduced hereditary peers, and it wasn't for the benefit of democracy.

What's that? Peter Mandelson isn't a convicted criminal? Well, you learn something new every day...

[Andy ORourke]

I like the line.......

"Provided that is you're not a convicted criminal."

We wouldn't want any people of dubious character becoming members of parliament now would we :-)

[Jim Carter]

Thought about it

And in line with usual British apathy, I've decided I just can't be nithered with it. Besides, anyone who wants to run for political office in my eyes is entirely the wrong person for the job.

Introduce MPs called up on a similar basis towards jury duty and then things would very well change.

[rabidbadger]

@Oliver

"None of the above" is one of the phrases explicitly forbidden for use by the Electoral Commission (for obvious reasons, sadly).

[Anonymous Coward]

or even...

Change your name to "No Speedlimit" or "No Taxes" or "Free Beer" or "Barak Obama"

I wonder how Proportional Representation works for "intependent" candidates like Martin Bell...

[Anonymous Coward]

I propose...

... the El Reg party, some manifesto items can include, Beer at lunchtime and a cattle prod to use on whinging voters/citizens.

[Tony S]

whip round

let's have a whip round - then get the Moderatrix to be the candidate!

[disgruntled yank]

Say what?

"or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland". Why?

[ElReg!comments!Pierre]

Why not?

The post is required, and must contain letters.

[Anonymous Coward]

"None of the above"

What a bunch of C***s - banned by statutory instrument so not even debated.

(3) At the end of Part IV of the Schedule to that Order, insert a new Part V -

PART V

Prohibited expressions

None of the above.

Christopher Leslie

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Department for Constitutional Affairs

26th January 2005

However "None of these above" is not banned yet ;-)

Someone get in quick before they ban voting altogether (to protect us from terrorist threat of course)

[Anonymous Coward]

Details on how to stand for Parliament...

http://www.loonyparty.com/index.php?page=stand-for-us

Note: unless you have registered a political party, you are forced to stand under the description "Independent".