Portal:Politics/Selected article/2007, week 15

Non-partisan democracy (also no-party democracy) is a system of representative government or organization such that universal and periodic elections (by secret ballot) take place without reference to political parties or even the speeches, campaigns, nominations, or other apparatus commonly associated with democracy.

A government is called nonpartisan if

• the law does not permit political parties,
• government officials are not members of political parties,
• government policies are decided by a direct democracy,
• officials are chosen in nonpartisan election, or
• no parties have arisen yet within a fledgling democracy.

Electioneering and even speaking about candidates may be discouraged, so as not to prejudice others' decisions or create an inharmonious atmosphere. Candidates to an office (or candidates to a delegate position) are instead chosen strictly by the conscience of the individuals voting for them and familiarity with all potential candidates is not seen as a necessity or even a possibility. Non-partisan democracies can also possess indirect elections whereby delegates are chosen who in turn vote for the representative(s). The system works with first past the post but is incompatible with proportional representation systems other than Single Transferable Vote.