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Special Features

These are early days of the None of the Above Party. We can't claim that the idea is new - it has in fact been around in various forms for years, as an Internet search will soon show! In the 1997 UK General Election the party was recognised, and assigned the acronym 'NAP', although in other countries 'NOTA' seems to be more common.

Usually the idea has been put forward as a bit of a joke by wacky and colourful characters - and parties as well. The Monster Raving Loony Party proposed to set up a None of the Above option as a sub-party.

However.... this time it's serious! With the current state of political parties and the disillusion and distrust of politicians, the need has never been so great. So normal placid people like us have been driven to become activists. It is in the nature of the British people to accept what is given, but once a point of unacceptability is reached, they can and do respond with decisive clarity - a situation in which we seem to find ourselves more and more often these days, and a message which our politicians would be ill-advised to ignore.

So at present it is just an idea of one or two of us. By it's nature though, nobody can really OWN the None of the Above Party. It is too generic and important a concept to be hijacked by any individual. Nobody is campaigning to be elected, to win personal gain or status. It is merely a campaign to have the option as standard on all ballot papers, whether it be in a General Election, a mayoral election or even just your local Parish Council.

It is very much a special and unique case. There will be no candidates put up for election by the None of the Above Party, and it should not need to raise a deposit for inclusion in the ballot options.

What a None of the Above vote says is "Sorry folks, your policies are not acceptable. The debate is not yet over".

Most parties will have most policies which are acceptable, even if they aren't ideal. However they may also propose some policy which is absolutely unacceptable, which renders all their other proposals irrelevant! If for example you liked the Lib Dem policies, but were against entry into the Euro, then they are simply not a possible choice. Identify one other such an unacceptable characteristic of the other major parties and suddenly the None of the Above option becomes the most important option you ever had...

A None of the Above vote is not a registration of apathy or ignorance. Quite the opposite. It is necessary to have examined and understood the policies put forward by all parties, and a conscious rejection of those policies (or perhaps just the calibre of the candidates put forward to implement them) before someone might choose to vote None of the Above.

The corollary to this is that the mandate of a party voted into power has to be greater where a None of the Above option was available. It gives those who feel disenfranchised an option to represent their views, and removes the 'voted in as least worst' stigma which currently detracts from the credibility of those in power.

The None of the Above campaign currently has no resources - twenty quid for the URL is about as much money as we are prepared to spend right now. Hence the lack of graphics and pictures on this web site! However it does mean that we won't suddenly disappear if we run out of funds.

The planned party logo will be the name "NOne of the Above", with the 'O' in NOne depicted as a No Entry symbol. If we are of a mischievous nature, then perhaps the addition of a wilted rose, an extinguished torch and a dead bird may be added in 'Ghostbusters' style. So all you graphics whizzkids out there - you have our e-mail address!

If you like the concept of a None of the Above option, we will be entirely reliant on you all to pick up the idea and run with it. Write to your MP (see links on the home page), get your Student Union to campaign for it, talk to others and see what they think. It's not our idea - it's all of our idea.

Britain has always been the cradle of Democracy - let us lead the world once again in the most significant enhancement to the process for generations.

Elwin Tennant
October, 2004

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