The following is an extract from our short explainer Things You Might Not Know About Elections.
Who may run for office: Candidates for office usually run under a political party banner, but not always and everywhere.
- Some countries allow candidates from more than one party on paper, but the reality is that only one party is allowed full access to power. Examples include the People’s Republic of China, Cuba, Eritrea, North Korea, Laos, and Vietnam.
- A few countries and states or provinces within countries do not allow political parties.
- A few other countries and municipalities allow parties but rely on non-partisan elections, particularly at the local level.
- Nebraska is the only state that has non-partisan elections for its legislature. Even so, the Democratic and Republican parties in Nebraska frequently endorse candidates for the legislature, and candidates often indicate their political affiliation during their campaign, even though it’s not officially listed on the ballot. This outcome is also seen in many non-partisan municipalities and school board contests throughout the United States.
If you want to learn more about elections, we have a 9-part course, each part is a 20 minute read. Easy! Click here: https://cffad.org/things-you-might-not-know-about-elections/
See our other topics here: https://cffad.org/topics/ and our glossary here: https://cffad.org/glossary/
