How's the UKIP going ? (in reality)

[Polkergeist]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/vote_2005/frontpage/4490421.stm

Knapman proclaims that they will win seats but they don't register in the polls. Will they make any notable performances at all in the election ?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Knapman will poll strongly (he won't win though) and they'll do fairly well in some coastal seats on the North Sea; possibly letting Labour pick up/hang onto some very unlikely Labour seats like Harwich or Boston & Skegness.

[Polkergeist]

what about the south-west ?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

what about the south-west ?

A lot of UKIP support in Euro elections votes for the LibDems in Westminster elections (strange as this may seem...)
They'll do well in Devon (Knapman is standing in a Devon seat) and some people think they might knock the Tories into fifth in a Cornish seat (Falmouth & Cambourne) due to the Tory candidate being openly gay and the fact that a former Tory M.P for the seat is running as an Independent...

[minionofmidas]

They'll save quite a few deposits but win no seats.

[Peter]

Last election they saved a meagre 6 deposits out of 429. Doubtless this will go up and fully encompass their 20 target seats (though I agree that they won't actually take any of them). I can certainly see them pushing towards 40 or 50 saved deposits, and possibly 3% of the PV (up from 1.5%).

[Cubby]

What does a deposit mean for British elections?

They don't teach us anything about foreign elections here in America. I didn't even know what an MP was till I looked it up myself.

[Emsworth]

What does a deposit mean for British elections?

In order to stand as a candidate, an individual must pay £500 when filing his nomination papers. This "deposit" is returned if the candidate gains 5% or more of the vote. It is meant to discourage frivolous candidacies.

[Cubby]

Thanks Emsworth. When I first read that I thought, how undemocratic, to have to pay.

Then I thought of the California Recall with 6 pages of candidates, so maybe deposits are a good thing!

[Emsworth]

Then I thought of the California Recall with 6 pages of candidates, so maybe deposits are a good thing!

Sadly, the UK does still get a lot of ridiculous parties, like the Monster Raving Loony Party, the Personality AND Rational Thinking? Yes! Party, and the Death, Dungeons & Taxes Party.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Don't forget the Church of the Militan Elvis...

£500 for a deposit isn't a lot nowaydays. There's a chance it might be raised soon.

[minionofmidas]

Anyways, in most US states (or Germany, for that matter) you need signatures and whatnot to get on the ballot. Organizing that usually costs a wee bit more than 500 Poundss.

[Silent Hunter]

Anyways, in most US states (or Germany, for that matter) you need signatures and whatnot to get on the ballot. Organizing that usually costs a wee bit more than 500 Poundss.

You only need 10 signatures to get on the ballot in the UK. Very rarely, people get on the ballot and get less than 10 votes.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

In TN, 25 signatures alone will get you on the ballot for most races.

The wierd thing is, we had to collect 200 signatures to get on the ballot for a UofM student government election...

Anyways, in most US states (or Germany, for that matter) you need signatures and whatnot to get on the ballot. Organizing that usually costs a wee bit more than 500 Poundss.

[Democratic Hawk]

Any one think UKIP could help Labour in Lab-Con marginals? I'd like to think so

Dave