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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>“The <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Office of Communications</span></b>,
commonly known as <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Ofcom</span></b>, is the
government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting,
telecommunications and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mail" title=Mail>postal</a>
industries of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United
Kingdom</st1:country-region></st1:place>.”<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Just last week, this quasi-governmental authority ruled
that the UKIP is a major party for the purposes of the May 2015 elections in
the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>From </span></font><font size=2
face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Verdana'><a
href="http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/major-parties-15/statement/Major_Parties_Statement.pdf">http://stakeholders.ofcom.org.uk/binaries/consultations/major-parties-15/statement/Major_Parties_Statement.pdf</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>“The PPRB Rules prescribe the minimum number of party
election broadcasts (“PEBs”) that must be afforded to certain
parties by public service broadcasters. Parties with a minimum number of
candidates standing in the General Election will receive at least one PEB,
whereas the major parties must be offered at least two PEBs.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Our Decision<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>1.12<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Having undertaken an assessment of the relevant evidence,
and following consideration of responses to our consultation proposals, we have
decided that: <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>[the existing major parties across Great Britain and in each
of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, should remain on the list:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font
size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial'>UK</span></font></st1:place></st1:country-region><font
size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial'>: </span></font><font
size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Conservative
Party; the Labour Party; and the Liberal Democrats.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>In addition, major parties in <st1:country-region w:st="on">Scotland</st1:country-region>
and <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Wales</st1:place></st1:country-region>
respectively are the Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The major parties in <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Northern Ireland</st1:place></st1:country-region> are: the Alliance
Party; the Democratic Unionist Party; Sinn Fein; the Social Democratic and
Labour Party; and the Ulster Unionist Party]<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=1 face=Arial><span style='font-size:9.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=3 face=Arial><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-family:Arial;font-weight:bold'>in addition, we have added the UK
Independence Party to the list of major parties in England and Wales for the
purposes of the General Election and English local (and mayoral) election s
being held on 7 May 2015; and we have decided that the Green Party (including
the Scottish Green Party) and Traditional Unionist Voice should not be added to
the list of major parties on this occasion”<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>Why am I posting this?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>I am not offering any opinion on the “libertarian
purity” of the UKIP. In fact, from what I have read this morning,
UKIP started out as left-of-center party, then went right-of-center, and has
just recently become centrist.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>My point is that even in a system that has many “first-past-the-post”
elections (<a
href="http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/voting-systems/">http://www.parliament.uk/about/how/elections-and-voting/voting-systems/</a>),
a third party in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">UK</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has been able to become successful enough to be considered a major party for
the purpose of media coverage.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>The Libertarian Party is just as capable of doing
that. The problem is that our members, National Convention Delegates, and
National Committee, must have the desire to become a major party, and all 3 of
those groups must focus exclusively on that goal, to the exclusion of all other
goals.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'>And please don’t use my assertion that the UKIP’s
Platform seems to be chameleon-like as an excuse for their success. The
LP has elected many hundreds of candidates to local offices over the years, and
I don’t get the sense that a majority of them have moved public policy in
the anti-freedom direction. The LP can become a successful major party in
the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">United States</st1:place></st1:country-region>
while still having the overwhelming majority of its elected officials moving
public policy in the libertarian direction during their terms of office.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Verdana><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Verdana'><br>
Scott Lieberman</span></font><font size=1 face=Verdana><span
style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:Verdana'><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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