Wikipedia:Notability (political parties)

A discussion on the notability of articles for political parties and groups has been on going for some time now.

Unlike most other organisations and bodies, the Wikipedia policy on Political Parties seems, to be fair, threadbare. This policy discussion aims to improve the situation, which should assist the current Political Party project and our attitude towards articles on parties standing for election across the world.

The aim for the project was to assist in formulating a plan; the assorted AfD's for political parties often shows that the attitude of some editors is "if they stand for election, they are automatically notable". This attitude has been altered slightly with some success, but the policy discussion has shown that Political Parties are very much "special cases" when it comes to notability guides. Indeed, what may be perfectly acceptable in the United Kingdom or United States may cause unexpected issues for parties in, say, Italy, or Nepal.

The following is copied from the original discussion on my user page.

I am a loyal and proud Wikipedian, who saw the "gap" in the notability policy with regards to Political Parties. I trust that together the debate can formulate a policy for the good of the project. The original discussions can be found on my talk page.

Draft proposal on Notability of Political Party Articles

Without prejudice to existing notability articles, Wikipedia editors should take heed of the following provisions/clauses when dealing with articles about political parties, or political "lists" where appropriate.

Amendments will be made when felt appropriate following dicussion at the talk page

The Electoral Clause – Political parties which have or have had representation in national or regional assemblies should be regarded as notable. Election to tertiary level assemblies should be taken on merit, with reference to the other clauses. The fact that a party has fielded unsuccessful candidates is by itself not enough for that party to be deemed as notable, but having fielded a very large number of candidates (in constituency systems) or having attained a substantial portion of the vote (while failing to get any members elected) is sufficient. The Lineage Clause – A party which is the de jure/de facto precursor of, or de jure/de facto successor to a party which meets the electoral clause is notable, although any article should contain enough referenced material to avoid being merged into its "parent"/"child". The Campaign Clause – Parties with no electoral success can still be regarded as notable if they have 2 years of proven campaigning experience, attested to by independent references. This also includes notable pressure or para-military groups which describe themselves as political parties, but may not be electorally active. A party that has an indisputable, clear, and certain importance in a state's political, cultural or social history, is regarded as notable. This notability must be based upon external, verifiable, published, reliable sources which demonstrate the party's importance. The Person Clause – A party which is launched or helped to launch by a person who meets the wikipedia notability criteria for people should be given a place within that person's article until such time as it satisfies other clauses in its own right.

Clause	Description	Issues	Possible solutions
The Electoral Clause	Political parties which have or have had representation in national or regional assemblies should be regarded as notable. Election to tertiary level assemblies should be taken on merit, with reference to the other clauses. The fact that a party has fielded unsuccessful candidates is by itself not enough for that party to be deemed as notable, but having fielded a very large number of candidates (in constituency systems) or having attained a substantial portion of the vote (while failing to get any members elected) is sufficient.	It is easier to elect candidates from small parties in some electoral systems compared to others. This clause would make some less significant parties notable in such systems	Create different notability guidelines for different electoral systems/regions
The Lineage Clause	A party which is the de jure/de facto precursor of, or de jure/de facto successor to a party which meets the electoral clause is notable, although any article should contain enough material to avoid being merged into its "parent"/"child"	If being the child of a notable party makes a second party notable then being the child of the now-notable second party will make a third party notable. This could create a long chain of notable party articles based solely on the notability of 1 article	Tighten the clause to avoid more than 1 generational leap of notability. Remove the clause entirely in favour of the philosophy that if the second party article cannot achieve notability on its own then it should merge with its notable relative.
The Campaign Clause	A party that has an indisputable, clear, and certain importance in a state's political, cultural or social history, is regarded as notable. This notability must be based upon an external, verifiable, published, reliable source which prove the party's importance. Parties with no electoral success can still be regarded as notable if they have 2 years of proven campaigning experience. This also includes notable pressure or para-military groups which claim to be political parties, but may not be electorally active.	The 2 year rule may be too open. A party that campaigns in a tertiary-level election 1 year then a secondary-level election the next would be considered notable even if they failed to get any votes	Tighten the 2 year rule.
The Person Clause	A party which is launched or helped launch by a person who meets the wikipedia notability criteria for people, should be given a place within that person's article until such time as it satisfies other clauses in its own right	No issues identified at this stage
The Registration Insufficiency Clause	The fact that a party has registered as a party is not enough for that party to be deemed as notable, unless that registration was difficult to obtain	What context is used to justify whether a registration was difficult to achieve?	Consider for inclusion in region/electoral-system specific notability criteria/Consider merging registration and campaigning causes together, creating reserached/referenced minor parties article
The Failure Insufficiency Clause	The fact that a party has fielded unsuccessful candidates is by itself not enough for that party to be deemed as notable, but having fielded a substantial proportion of the candidates, or having attained a substantial proportion of the vote, is sufficient	"substantial proportion" is a little vague	Try to tighten the definition or leave the vague area as a subjective decision for editors
Alliance Clause	A party which is a formal ally of a party that meets the electoral clause is notable, although any article should contain enough material to avoid being merged into its founder/co-founder. This includes all parties that are formal and full members of international party federations or parties at the European level	In countries with fluctuating coalitions this clause could spread notability from one or two parties to all parties within the electoral system, thereby invalidating the purpose of setting criteria for notability. A similar problem could occur if this clause is combined with "The Lineage Clause"	Consider for inclusion in region/electoral-system specific notability criteria