Jonah Patel
Independents have been elected to office in various countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Georgia, Germany, Algeria, and Tunisia. In the US, independent candidates for president have historically underperformed in elections, but George Washington, the first US president, was independent and won the votes of all ten eligible states in the first election. Since then, only one presidential candidate has won a race as an independent. In other countries, independent candidates have also been elected to various positions, including the presidency, parliament, and local government.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Country | United States, Germany, Georgia, Canada, Australia, Algeria, Namibia, Tunisia |
| Level | Federal, State/Regional, Local |
| Position | President, MP, Prime Minister, Senator |
| Number of Independents | Up to five |
| Votes | 32%, 19%, 6%, 3%, 30% |
| Year | 2012-2017, 2013, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2024 |
| Party Affiliation | None, Other |
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What You'll Learn
George Washington was the first and only independent US president
George Washington was the first President of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. He was inaugurated on April 30, 1789, and was unanimously elected by the Electoral College. Washington was re-elected in 1792, winning each of the fifteen states and receiving all 132 electoral votes.
Washington is the only independent candidate to win the US presidency to date. He was elected as a politically independent candidate, condemning partisanship in his 1796 farewell address. He believed that political parties would divide and destroy the young United States. He warned against the ""baneful effects of the spirit of party" and the "spirit of revenge, natural to party dissentation", which he thought could provoke a ""frightful despotism" in the country.
Washington's stance on political parties was influenced by his time as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (1754–1763) and (1775-1783). He led the American forces to victory against the British Empire, achieving independence for the United States. Washington then presided over the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which drafted the current US Constitution.
Washington's image is an icon of American culture, and he is consistently considered one of the greatest presidents in US history. His legacy is enduring, with his face appearing on US currency and dozens of schools, towns, and counties named after him, including the state of Washington and the nation's capital, Washington, D.C.
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Independent candidates in Australia
Independents are a recurrent feature of the federal Parliament of Australia. They are more commonly elected to state parliaments. There have been up to five independents in every federal parliament since 1990, and independents have won twenty-eight times during national elections in that time.
In 2013, a political party named the Australian Independents was registered with the Australian Electoral Commission. It was deregistered in 2016. As of 2023, ten independents sit in the Australian House of Representatives. These include Andrew Gee from Calare in New South Wales, Andrew Wilkie from Clark in Tasmania, and Helen Haines from Indi in Victoria.
In 2022, seven new independents were elected to the House of Representatives. Many of these were known as "teal independents", a loose collective of social progressives challenging moderate Liberal seats. Independents can win with a relatively low share of the primary vote. For example, in 2022, community independent Kylea Tink won the electorate of North Sydney with 25% of the primary vote.
Historically, many independents were former members of one of Australia's main parties, such as the Australian Labor Party, the Liberal Party of Australia, the Australian Greens, or the National Party of Australia.
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Independent candidates in Germany
Germany has a mixed-member proportional electoral system. Voters have two votes: the first is used to elect a candidate directly in their constituency using the first-past-the-post system, and the second is for a party's electoral list.
Independent candidates are elected if they receive a plurality of the vote in their constituency. However, an independent candidate has not won a constituency since 1949.
Germany's two major parties are the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD) and the conservative alliance of the Christian Democrats (CDU) and the Christian Social Union (CSU). In recent years, their support has declined, allowing smaller parties to gain traction, including the Greens and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
The most prominent independent politician to date was Joachim Gauck, President of Germany from March 2012 to March 2017.
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Independent candidates in Georgia
In the United States, independent candidates have had a limited impact on the electoral process, with only one presidential candidate, George Washington, winning a race as an independent. Washington, the first US president, was also one of the country's founding fathers and opposed the development of political parties.
In the 1992 presidential election, Ross Perot, a billionaire from Texas, won 19% of the popular vote, which was considered the beginning of a third party in American politics. Similarly, consumer and environmental advocate Ralph Nader won nearly 3% of the popular vote in the 2000 presidential election.
Independents have had more success in other countries, such as Germany, where Joachim Gauck served as the first Federal President without party affiliation from 2012 to 2017. In 2018, Salome Zourabichvili became the first female President of Georgia as an independent candidate.
In terms of independent candidates in Georgia, specifically the US state, there have been instances of independent candidates seeking to appear on the ballot. In 2024, a state administrative law judge ruled that four independent and third-party candidates were not eligible to be on the ballot, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who had already left the race. However, the decision was not final, and Chief Judge Michael Malihi determined that independent candidate Cornel West was eligible to run as an independent under state law.
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Independent candidates in Canada
Independents have faced many challenges in Canadian politics. Running without a party's support creates many difficulties for independent candidates. Electoral success is elusive for them, and they have to battle fierce headwinds. From 1980 to 2019, only seven independents won a seat in the House of Commons.
Political parties are important in Canada, and they dominate the legislative process. Independents often struggle to convince voters that they would be able to represent them effectively. Moreover, party candidates have several benefits that independents do not have during a campaign. For example, electoral law favours party candidates; independents cannot provide receipts that are eligible for a tax credit for donations received before they are an official candidate. On the other hand, registered parties, including constituency associations, can. Local campaigns, especially in the case of a high-profile candidate or a competitive race, also benefit from money from the national party.
However, successful independents are typically those running for re-election directly after a severed relationship with a party. In 2019, MP Jody Wilson-Raybould ran as an independent candidate in the riding of Vancouver Granville after being expelled from the cabinet and the Liberal Party over the SNC-Lavalin affair. She was returned to Parliament with 32% of the vote. Another example is Jane Philpott, a former MP and cabinet minister in the Liberal government, who resigned from the cabinet in light of the SNC-Lavalin affair and sought re-election in 2019 as an independent.
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Frequently asked questions
Yes, George Washington was the only independent candidate to win the US Presidency. He was also the first US president.
Yes, Salome Zourabichvili won the 2018 Georgian presidential election as an independent candidate, becoming the first female President of Georgia. Joachim Gauck, President of Germany from 2012 to 2017, was also an independent. Independents are also a recurrent feature of the federal Parliament of Australia.
Yes, independent candidates have won senate seats, governorships, and state constitutional offices. In 2019, MP Jody Wilson-Raybould ran as an independent candidate in the riding of Vancouver Granville and was returned to Parliament with 32% of the vote.
Yes, in the 2020 Namibian local and regional elections, independent politicians won four seats. The President of Tunisia, Kais Saied, was elected in 2019 and re-elected in 2024 as an independent.
