War-time electoral pact

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The war-time electoral pact was an electoral pact established by the member parties of the UK coalition governments in the First World War, and re-established in the Second World War. Under the pact, in the event of a by-election only the party which previously held the seat would nominate a candidate, and the other coalition parties would stand aside. [1]

This led to a number of unopposed by-elections as well as strong showings and surprise victories by third party candidates.

In electoral politics, a third party is any party contending for votes that failed to outpoll either of its two strongest rivals. The distinction is particularly significant in two-party systems. In any case "third" is often used figuratively, as in "the third parties", where the intent, literally stated, is "the third and succeeding parties".

The 1914 to 1918 truce was officially broken in June 1918 when the Labour Party decided that the truce should no longer be recognised, although no Labour candidates were nominated before the 1918 General Election.

The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of social democrats, democratic socialists and trade unionists. The party's platform emphasises greater state intervention, social justice and strengthening workers' rights.

1918 United Kingdom general election

The 1918 United Kingdom general election was called immediately after the Armistice with Germany which ended the First World War, and was held on Saturday, 14 December 1918. The governing coalition, under Prime Minister David Lloyd George, sent letters of endorsement to candidates who supported the coalition government. These were nicknamed ‘Coalition Coupons’, and led to the election being known as the ‘coupon election’. The result was a massive landslide in favour of the coalition, comprising primarily the Conservatives and Coalition Liberals, with massive losses for Liberals who were not endorsed. Nearly all the Liberal MPs without coupons were defeated, although party leader H. H. Asquith managed to return to Parliament in a by-election.

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