ABSTRACT
Any division of parties into ‘major’ and ‘minor’ categories is both arbitrary and certain to cause offence to the supporters of those parties relegated to the lesser status. Political scientists have struggled for many years to arrive at an acceptable system of classification. For some the critical factor has been whether the party in question succeeds in winning legislative representation (Lijphart 1984). Others seem to imply that minor parties are those which defy cross-national ‘family’ analysis (Gallagher et al. 1995; Muller-Rommel and Pridham 1991). What most of these studies have in common, however, is that the discussion centres on national, not local electoral politics. Naturally, the threshold for minor parties to succeed at the national level is different to that for achieving local representation. In one sense this confuses the picture still further. By suggesting that small parties are not after all so insignificant when local rather than national elections are being discussed we appear to be calling into question the distinction between major and minor parties. We are not about to resolve this issue here but it is hoped that what follows will at least provide a greater insight into the nature and extent of electoral competition provided by parties outside the national mainstream.
