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Single-issue politics involves political campaigning or political support based on one essential policy area or idea.
One weakness of such an approach is that effective political parties are usually coalitions of factions or advocacy groups. Bringing together political forces based on a single intellectual or cultural common denominator can be unrealistic; though there may be considerable public opinion on one side of an argument, it does not necessarily follow that mobilizing under that one banner will bring results. A defining issue may indeed come to dominate one particular electoral campaign, sufficiently to swing the result. Imposing such an issue may well be what single-issue politics concern; but for the most part success is rather limited, and electorates choose governments for reasons with a broader base.
Single-issue politics may express itself through the formation of a single-issue party, an approach that tends to be more successful in parliamentary systems based on proportional representation than in rigid two-party systems (like that of the United States). Alternatively, it may proceed through political advocacy groups of various kinds, including Lobby groups, pressure groups and other forms of political expression external to normal representative government. Within a broad-based party it may be the concern of a single-issue caucus .
Very visible as it was in Western democracies in the second half of the twentieth century, single-issue politics is hardly a new phenomenon. In the 1880s, the third government of William Ewart Gladstone made British politics in practical terms single-issue, around the Home Rule Bill, leading to a split of the Liberal Party.
Single-issue politics are a form of litmus test; common examples are abortion, taxation, animal rights, environment, and guns. The National Rifle Association in the United States, which has only one specific interest, is an example of a single-issue group. What differentiates single-issue groups from other interest groups is their intense style of lobbying.
The term single-issue voter has been used to describe people who may make voting decisions based on the candidates' stance on a single issue (e.g., support or opposition to abortion rights, or in support of gun rights or gun control). The existence of single-issue voters can give a distorted impression: a candidate's overall views may not enjoy the same support. For example, a person who votes for a socially liberal Republican candidate, based solely on their support of abortion, may not necessarily share the candidate's other views on social issues, such as gun rights or family values.
A single-issue party is a political party which focuses any campaign, efforts, or activism almost exclusively on only a single issue or a very narrow range of issues (e.g., such as a gun rights organization that might also support knife rights).
It is generally believed that single-issue parties are favored by voluntary voting systems, as they tend to attract very committed supporters who will always vote. Through systems like instant runoff voting and proportional representation they can have substantial influence on the results of elections. First-past-the-post voting systems tend to lessen their influence,[ citation needed ] but local single-issue parties, such as Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern, which sought to reopen the Accident and Emergency unit at Kidderminster Hospital, may see more success under this voting system. This party won the Wyre Forest seat, where the hospital is located, at two consecutive general elections (in 2001 and 2005) in the United Kingdom. The party went on to become a national party, the National Health Action Party. Similar parties in the UK are the Save Huddersfield NHS party which had representation on Kirklees Council, and Save Chase Farm party.
In instant-runoff electoral systems which allow unsuccessful parties to designate where their votes are redistributed, single-issue parties may be formed as a way to funnel more votes to another candidate with quite different policies. For instance, in the 1999 New South Wales state election, candidate Malcolm Jones received just 0.2% of the primary vote, but achieved the quota of 4.5% required to win a Legislative Council seat after receiving preferences from a wide range of minor parties (including both the 'Gun Owners and Sporting Hunters Rights Party' and the 'Animal Liberation Party'); MLC Lee Rhiannon accused many of these parties of being nothing more than fronts. [1]
A similar type of political party has been plentiful in the Netherlands, where they are called testimonial parties. Testimonial parties are often concentrated around a specific set of principles or policies which they seek to promote without the compromises contingent on ordinary coalition politics. Examples of some successful testimonial parties are the Party for the Animals, the Reformed Political Party, or the former Pacifist Socialist Party.
Other single-issue parties focus on the interests of a specific target group, such as ethnic minorities, retirees, and students.
Green parties, cannabis political parties and pirate parties which exist in a number of countries, are explicitly based around the single issues of environmental protection, cannabis legalization and copyright liberalization respectively. These parties often evolve to adopt a full platform, however.
The most successful electorally British single-issue party is the pro-Brexit UKIP which later due to its success started to formulate other policies. As its consequences started to become clear, its former leader Nigel Farage left and founded the Brexit Party, renamed Reform UK as the withdrawal process gained momentum.
Other single-issue parties in the UK are anti-devolution Abolish the Scottish Parliament Party and Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party, animal rights advocates Animal Protection Party and the Animal Welfare Party and the pro fox-hunting Countryside Party. There were also the electoral reform advocates No Candidate Deserves My Vote! party.
In 2019, an anti-environmentalist Polish political party called the Party of Drivers (Polish : Partia Kierowców) was formed with the aim of "fighting for the rights of drivers and hauliers". [2] [3] [4]
In Norway, there is also a party called Patient Focus (Norway) as a support movement for an expansion of the Alta hospital in Finnmark.
The Anti-Masonic Party opposed Freemasonry.
Rent is Too Damn High is focused on housing.
The Free-Soil Party opposed slavery.
In Australia, a number of single-issue parties have been elected to federal and state parliaments such as the Animal Justice Party, Dignity for Disability, the Australian Reason Party, Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party.
Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate who polls more than any other counterpart is elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects just one member per district and may also be referred to as first-past-the-post (FPTP), single-member plurality (SMP/SMDP), single-choice voting, simple plurality or relative majority. A system which elects multiple winners elected at once with the plurality rule, such as one based on multi-seat districts, is referred to as plurality block voting.
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions among voters. The essence of such systems is that all votes cast – or almost all votes cast – contribute to the result and are effectively used to help elect someone – not just a bare plurality or (exclusively) the majority – and that the system produces mixed, balanced representation reflecting how votes are cast.
In the United States, politics function within a framework of a constitutional federal republic and presidential system, with three distinct branches that share powers: the U.S. Congress which forms the legislative branch, a bicameral legislative body comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate; the executive branch, which is headed by the president of the United States, who serves as the country's head of state and government; and the judicial branch, composed of the Supreme Court and lower federal courts, and which exercises judicial power.
In political science, Duverger's law holds that single-ballot majoritarian elections with single-member districts tend to favor a two-party system. The theory is attributed to Maurice Duverger, a French sociologist who published several papers on it in the 1950s and 1960s. In the course of further research, other political scientists began calling the effect a "law" or principle.
First-past-the-post voting is an electoral system wherein voters cast a vote for a single candidate, and the candidate with the most votes wins the election. Analogous systems for multi-winner contests are known as plurality block voting or "block voting" systems; both FPTP and block voting are "plurality" systems in that the winner needs only a plurality of the votes and not an absolute majority. The term first-past-the-post is a metaphor from horse racing of the plurality-voted candidate winning such a race; the electoral system is formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts, and informally called choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting or score voting.
The Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand was a New Zealand political party espousing Christian values and conservative views on social policy. Although it never won seats in an election, it came close to doing so in 1996 as part of the Christian Coalition and briefly had a member in Parliament.
The New Reform Party of Ontario was a minor provincial political party in Ontario, Canada, that promoted a populist, fiscally conservative, socially conservative, libertarian, and localist ideology.
This article discusses Christian politics in New Zealand.
The Greens is a political party in Poland.
Elections in Australia take place periodically to elect the legislature of the Commonwealth of Australia, as well as for each Australian state and territory and for local government councils. Elections in all jurisdictions follow similar principles, although there are minor variations between them. The elections for the Australian Parliament are held under the federal electoral system, which is uniform throughout the country, and the elections for state and territory Parliaments are held under the electoral system of each state and territory.
The Polish Labour Party - August 80(Polish: Polska Partia Pracy-Sierpień 80, PPP) was a minor left-wing political party in Poland, describing itself as socialist. It was created on 11 November 2001 as the Alternative – Labour Party and acquired its new name of Polish Labour Party(Polska Partia Pracy) in 2004, before adding the suffix -August 80(Sierpień 80) on 20 November 2009. The party was affiliated with the Free Trade Union "August 80".
There are five types of elections in the United Kingdom: elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elections to devolved parliaments and assemblies, local elections, mayoral elections, and Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Within each of those categories, there may also be by-elections. Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday, and under the provisions of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 the timing of general elections can be held at the discretion of the prime minister during any five-year period. All other types of elections are held after fixed periods, though early elections to the devolved assemblies and parliaments can occur in certain situations. The five electoral systems used are: the single member plurality system (first-past-the-post), the multi-member plurality, the single transferable vote, the additional member system, and the supplementary vote.
A gender gap in voting typically refers to the difference in the percentage of men and women who vote for a particular candidate. It is calculated by subtracting the percentage of women supporting a candidate from the percentage of men supporting a candidate. Contrary to many popular media accounts, gender gaps are not within-the-gender differences in candidate support, nor are they the aggregate total of men's and women's within gender differences.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to politics and political science:
Left Together is a left-wing political party in Poland.
The Agreement, formally known as Jarosław Gowin's Agreement, is a centre-right political party in Poland.
The Australian Sex Party was an Australian political party founded in 2009 in response to concerns over the purported increasing influence of religion in Australian politics. The party was born out of an adult-industry lobby group, the Eros Association. Its leader, Fiona Patten, was formerly the association's CEO.
The United Right is a conservative political alliance in Poland. It came to power following the 2015 parliamentary election.
The Left is a political alliance in Poland. Initially founded to contest the 2019 parliamentary election, the alliance now consists of the New Left and Left Together.
Party of Drivers is a minor single-issue political party in Poland with the aim of "fighting for the rights of drivers and hauliers". The party was founded in April 2019 and wanted to participate in the 2019 European Parliament election in Poland on the idea of representing the interests of Polish drivers. The party founders had ties with right-wing parties such as the Congress of the New Right, and formed a coalition with the Piotr Liroy-Marzec's Effective party in August 2019. In September 2019, the party joined the right-wing coalition of Confederation Liberty and Independence and ran in the 2019 Polish parliamentary election.