Richard Huggett

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Richard J. Huggett is a British man who practised using confusing descriptions on ballot papers. This behaviour in part prompted the Registration of Political Parties Act 1998 - although growing pressure from Europe for British Parliamentary election procedures to fall into line with the stricter measures used on the continent probably had more bearing.

He stood in the European Parliament Election, 1994 under the name 'Literal Democrat' for the Devon and East Plymouth seat, winning over 10 000 votes. The Liberal Democrats blamed him for confusing the voters and ensuring their candidate, Adrian Sanders, failed to win the seat as expected, it was won instead by the Conservative Giles Chichester by 700 votes.

Sanders challenged the results in court, but lost the case at a cost of £100 000 (Chichester was to subsequently be re-elected to the European Parliament at the next two elections in the brand new multi member South West constituency). There was also a candidate from the Euro-sceptic continuing Liberal Party (UK, 1989), which held a number of parish & district council seats within the constituency, and who were standing a European Parliamentary candidate in the seat for the first time - they were to take 14 000 votes, thus it could be equally argued that their candidate - David Moorish - may have taken potential Liberal Democrat votes in confusion as much as Huggett; as such, Sanders' case was rejected (he went on to become Torbay MP in 1997.

Huggett was apparently motivated by his assertion that political parties, which were not recognised in statute law, had established in British democracy a cartel, having the effect of squeezing out independent and freethinking politicians. There were some musings at the time as to whether Huggett had earlier been involved in John Donovan's West Country based "Circle"/"Computer Democrats" organisation - a forerunner of George Weiss' "Rainbow" anti-party organisation that advocated "direct democracy" (ie. important decisions to be done by electronic referenda of the entire electorate) which had disappeared after Donovan was questioned over the theft of bolts from electricity pylons. However, DOD's Parliamentary companion noted Huggett's motivation for standing as being the pursuit of "a family feud" rather than anything to do with politics.

Huggett stood in the 1997 general election for Winchester under the "Top Choice Liberal Democrat for Parliament" label, earning 640 votes (1.0%). The result (a majority of two for Liberal Democrat Mark Oaten) was challenged in court by the former Conservative MP Gerry Malone - this time successfully - and it led to the by-election, which Huggett again contested under the name of "Literal Democrat Mark Here To Win". By this time though Huggett was well known and the voters this time around were not fooled - his vote collapsed to 51 votes (0.1%)

Oaten was alleged to have threatened Huggett with physical violence at the original count when it became clear the result was on a knife edge (Oaten had been on the ballot paper as "Liberal Democrat Leader Paddy Ashdown" to try & stop any vote split occuring), and in an interview in the "Mid & West Hampshire Observer" on 20th November 2002, Mark Oaten said "I’m as bitter today about Richard Huggett as I was six or seven years ago."

In the 1997 General Election, Huggett stood as an Independent Conservative at Brighton Pavillion, this time taking 1 098 votes (2.2%), after which he disappeared from public view.