Socialist Alliance maintains registration

October 16, 2020
Issue 
Socialist Alliance campaigning in Sydney. Photo: Peter Boyle

The Australian Electoral Commission confirmed on October 16 that the Socialist Alliance will maintain its electoral registration.

Federal electoral registration is tested for all parties approximately every three years. This is a trivial exercise for establishment parties, which only have to demonstrate they have a member of parliament.

Right-wing parties achieve registration by this means as well. Many of the well-known right-wing parties, backed by big money, began when someone was elected on a major party ticket and subsequently split from that party (e.g. One Nation, Australian Conservatives). They could register their party just because they had one MP.

For left-wing activist parties, such as the Socialist Alliance, achieving and maintaining registration is manageable, but is yet another hurdle to achieving parliamentary representation.

Other obstacles include: prohibitive election deposits; the lack of election funding for smaller parties; an undemocratic electoral system and corporate media bias towards more right-wing parties.

The Socialist Alliance stands for a platform of democratic reform that would benefit smaller parties as well as community campaigners and ordinary people.

The Alliance has elected representatives in local government in Victoria, Western Australia and Queensland.

Socialist Alliance WA, which has also successfully retained electoral registration, is gearing up for state elections in March.

Socialist Alliance NSW has also recently confirmed ongoing state registration in that state.

State registration for the Alliance lapsed in Victoria since the party contested the last state elections under the banner of Victorian Socialists.

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