Running as candidate to show dissatisfaction

brianthebard

On another board I'm on there was a debate about the election, and one poster suggested that rather than complaining about the lack of choice in their area, the complainee should run as a way of voicing this satisfaction in some way. Personally I felt it was an especially silly statement at the time, but I wonder is there any precedent for this? How does a person go about entering election, and on the off chance they were voted in, (always a possibility with PR) what would happen then? Would they have to say "I'm just running for the laff, can't do it"?
I realise this is kind of vague but its a subject I know little about.

ballooba

Seanan O Coistin ran a strange campaign for the Europeans in 2004. Think he might have been doing it for the laugh.

http://www.electionsireland.org/result.cfm?election=2004E&cons=240

Múinteoir

brianthebard wrote:

On another board I'm on there was a debate about the election, and one poster suggested that rather than complaining about the lack of choice in their area, the complainee should run as a way of voicing this satisfaction in some way. Personally I felt it was an especially silly statement at the time, but I wonder is there any precedent for this?

Any precedent? Are you serious? Have you any idea how many independent TDs there are in Dáil Éireann! There are hundreds of examples of people running for election themselves out of dissatisfaction with the electoral options available.
Though I'm not a fan of independent locally focused TDs, I can respect them more than some armchair intellectual who just sits on their ass and moans about lack of choice. It's easier to curse the dark than to light a candle.

brianthebard

I see what you are saying but what I meant is running without any real policies or at most running as a candidate for a party not often on the ballot in an area, not really with the intention of winning or taking a seat though.

Múinteoir

brianthebard wrote:

I see what you are saying but what I meant is running without any real policies or at most running as a candidate for a party not often on the ballot in an area, not really with the intention of winning or taking a seat though.

Well it's fairly subjective whether they are or not. No candidate is going to declare openly in public that they don't want to, or can't win. Othewise why would anyone vote for them. But there's no doubt that some people run just to rock the apple cart. There are a few examples of local hospital candidates in this upcoming elections who are clearly planning to run just to hurt the government's local vote and not with any serious intention to win. But they never declare that in public.

po0k

brianthebard wrote:

On another board I'm on there was a debate about the election, and one poster suggested that rather than complaining about the lack of choice in their area, the complainee should run as a way of voicing this satisfaction in some way. Personally I felt it was an especially silly statement at the time, but I wonder is there any precedent for this? How does a person go about entering election, and on the off chance they were voted in, (always a possibility with PR) what would happen then? Would they have to say "I'm just running for the laff, can't do it"?
I realise this is kind of vague but its a subject I know little about.

Politics is the only vocation for which no prior qualification nor experience is deemed neccessary.

stipey

Not taking a seat?

On the salary of a TD, for 5 years - without having to actually achieve anything tangible or keep regular business hours. Admittedly it would be unfair on the constituents who voted you in as they will not have the representation to which they would expect and you wouldn't get re-elected next time round...

but you would also leave with a healthy, index linked pension - payable, as far as I know, from the time you lose your seat.

Why wouldn't you take the seat - hell you get all of the benfits and you mightn't even have to sit in it twice!

The Clown Man

You don't need a checklist of policies to run for election. You just need to convince people to vote for you. Or, more to the point, you need to convince them to vote for you before every other candidate running. And most of them will have very well documented policies to help people see what they will bring to the Dail if they choose them over everyone else.

Otherwise you need to be 21 and register with the electoral area's registrar/returning officer. Ask in your local Civil Service office for directions.

Standing up and going for election when you are dissatisfied is the grass roots of the system. If you believe in it, go for it.

Most people find fairly quickly, however, that it is not simply good enough to have ideals, you need to express them and get the electorate to relate to them on a very grand scale. You need to invest in a campaign to promote yourself. It is a full-time job. You need to be 100% dedicated. Otherwise you are just another one of those nuts that everyone has a giggle at when ticking their ballots and who will turn out with 47/92000 votes on election day, the grand total of the regular clientele at the local corner pub who think you are kind of funny but generally feel sorry for you.

I'll tell you though, I don't envy anyone going for election. I could never do it.

tbh

I was thinking a good idea for a protest candidate would be to actively poll for prefs which are +1 of the seats. eg. if you have four seats, you would actively canvas for the 5th preference. each 5th preference would be a protest vote at whatever issue you were running, people could give you the vote without feeling it's a wasted one. I've probably got that arseways tho, for some reason I have my best ideas at night but the cold light of day exposes them for what they are

Jackie laughlin

There was a guy on the radio yesterday announcing his intention to run in Limerick. He presented first as an MRSA sufferer protest candidate. He then moved on to talk about his working class origins and how he wanted to represent the working class. When George Hook asked if he saw himself in the long Labour tradition in Limerick, he said no, that a forbearer had starved himself to death for nationalism. GH also let him away with saying that all politicians were corrupt.

My local independent councillor who has Dail ambitions, never had a political thought in his life. He wants "to serve the people" and by this he means finding out what groups of residents object to and then writing to them saying that he agrees with them. He distributes great numbers of leaflets, all devoid of political content.

There is a full range of political parties and there is no need for independents who want to "take the politics out of politics".

passive

There is a full range of political parties

heh...

RainyDay

There is no danger of getting elected unintentionally. Look at the intense competition for existing seats. Every serious candidate said goodbye to their families weeks ago, and is out knocking on doors on every available occasion, and putting something of the order of €20k-€40k of their funds into a campaign. And they still have slim chances of getting their seat.

Marcais

brianthebard wrote:

On another board I'm on there was a debate about the election, and one poster suggested that rather than complaining about the lack of choice in their area, the complainee should run as a way of voicing this satisfaction in some way.

There's a deposit you have to put down and if you don't get a minimum number of votes you don't get your deposit back.

I know this from Evelyn Cawley www.evelyncawley.com who is running in Greystones, so there is a financial (as well as a public embarrassment !) risk.

(Evelyn should be alright though, her odds of taking a seat have gone from 30:1 to 6:1 because she is pushing the right buttons)

HelterSkelter

Marcais wrote:

There's a deposit you have to put down and if you don't get a minimum number of votes you don't get your deposit back.

I know this from Evelyn Cawley www.evelyncawley.com who is running in Greystones, so there is a financial (as well as a public embarrassment !) risk.

(Evelyn should be alright though, her odds of taking a seat have gone from 30:1 to 6:1 because she is pushing the right buttons)

I don't think that is true, at least it was not in the last General Election. It was rules unconstitutional as it discriminated against poor people running in the election. All you had to do was get approx 30 people to nominate you by going down to the countil offices in the area you wanted to run in.

Our man in Havana

Change your name to something begining with A like Ahern so your name is first on the ballot paper Apprantly some people simply stick number 1 in the first box on the ballot.

Ever see the film, the distinguished gentleman? Watch that for ideas!

ballooba

Bond-007 wrote:

Change your name to something begining with A like Ahern so your name is first on the ballot paper Apprantly some people simply stick number 1 in the first box on the ballot.

Ever see the film, the distinguished gentleman? Watch that for ideas!

This was a big problem in the states (Chicago specifically?) recently where candidates for the judiciary would change there names. There was a feeling that Irish-American candidates purely because they were Irish. Voters would not be familiar with the candidates but would vote for the Irish sounding one.

So you had all these Italians, Asians and Hispanics changing their names to O'Brien or Murphy. The rule is now that if you have changed your name within a certain time frame you have to indicate this on the ballot.

Elmo

There are some very good independent sitting TD's and then there are those who are really FF or FG.

Remember if you do get elected to the dail you do get to vote directly for the next government. That one vote could make the difference.