A few weeks ago I emailed an American who contacted Samizdata, wanting to know about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the libertarian movement in the US and the UK.
I included in my response the sentence: “America is the worst country in the world to have a libertarian party”, without qualification (it would have taken too long to cover all the ground).
However this extract from an appeal email sent out from the US Libertarian Party gives a flavour of one of the problems:
“And, unless we can raise a lot more than $2,375 for ballot access right away, we aren’t going to be able to help other at-risk ballot drives and candidates around the country. We need:
· Up to $6,000 for filing fees and petitioning costs to qualify six U.S. House candidates in Kentucky. Deadline: August 13.
· Up to $4,200 in Louisiana to run a full slate of seven U.S. House candidates. Deadline: August 23.
· Up to $1,500 to qualify a full slate of five U.S. House candidates on the ballot in Iowa. Deadline: August 16.
· Up to $4,000 to petition the ballot in Washington, DC, which gives us a shot at major-party status in our nation’s capitol. Deadline: August 28.
· Up to $5,000 to put the Maryland ballot drive over the top. Deadline: August 5.And, there may be other drives that will require last minute assistance to succeed.
For example, over the past month, we had to step in and provide $8,000 to Illinois and $5,000 to Pennsylvania to put those ballot drives over the top. Both drives would have probably failed without our last-minute assistance.”
Now compare this with the barriers to entry in the UK.
1) To register a political party costs £150 (about 220 US dollars) for mainland Britain and the same again for registering in Northern Ireland. To comply with this a party has to send in a list of national officers, audited accounts, and a copy of the party’s constitution. This allows the name to be registered and a logo to be displayed on ballot papers. The charge includes a web page for the party which lists public contacts, constitution etc.
2) Local council elections require no deposit and there is a spending limit for all candidates. Ten signatures of local registered voters (who don’t need to be supporters) and the candidate must live or work in the borough are the only requirements. A typical spending limit per candidate is about £400 (600 dollars US). This limit obviously favours poorer political parties.
3) Parliamentary elections (legislature) there is a deposit of £ 500 (about 750 US dollars). Ten signatures from local electorate must be found. The candidate doesn’t need to be local, there is a free postal delivery, and each candidate has a spending restriction. The spending limit is under £20,000 (30,000 US dollars). National campaigning which doesn’t promote individual candidates are currently exempt from spending limits.
4) European Parliament and regional elections are by party list and cost about £3,000 (4,500 US dollars). I forget how many signatures must be gathered but I’m sure it’s 100 or less. For these elections the parties have one page in a booklet sent to every registered voter. In Greater London this amounts to over five million copies.
N.B. All deposits are refundable to the candidate if he or she scores 5 per cent of the total polled. The two Independent Libertarian Party election campaigns to date have cost less than £100 between them.
The contrast with the US is astonishing: in one state, the LP has to gather 5 per cent of the entire electorate’s support to be allowed to put up a candidate for the presidency. Yet neither Republican nor Democrat party have to comply with this barrier to entry: they are simply excused. In the UK this would require over two million signatures, as opposed to the 6,570 needed to contest every Parliamentary seat.
Another significant problem for the LP is that it is illegal for the party to receive donations from non-US citizens, so I can’t give money to the LP. But I can send money to the US on behalf of the Costa Rica Movimiento Libertario and US citizens can send money to the UK for a British political party, provided donations don’t exceed £5,000 (7,500 US dollars).
I’m currently looking into registering for next year’s London elections.
