[rwmj]

Unfortunately in the UK we have a system where you have to post a "deposit" of quite a large amount of money in order to stand. If you don't get a certain percentage of the vote you lose this deposit. This is designed by the major parties to discourage left-of-field candidates from even appearing on the ballot.

I'll admit that this frustrating bit of ballot rigging does make it harder to vote for the throwaway candidate, but you should still vote for the one closest to your beliefs even if they're not a great match for the reasons summarised by emess in this thread.

[DanBC]

The deposit is £500. (About $800). Candidates need to get over 5% of the votes cast.

http://www.parliament.uk/about/mps-and-lords/members/electin...

There might be some seats with very low turnouts where a decent campaign by someone wearing a monkey costume could persuade apathetic voters to turn out to vote, getting 5% of the vote and possibly winning.

The traditional protest vote is for the Monster Raving Loony Party. (Loony here is "lunatic", not the bird.) While seen as a nonsense party some of their policies have found their way into UK law.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Monster_Raving_Loony_...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_Monster_Raving_Loony_...

[dragonwriter]

A response to your post indicates that the amount isn't that large, which suggests that if there is even modest support for the ideas -- especially among even middle-income people -- it shouldn't be that hard to raise.

Sure, there'll probably be some elections in which the deposit is lost. If the approach to government is even a little bit important to more than a tiny handful of people, it doesn't seem like that should be a significant barrier.

I mean, really, I can't believe that the risk of a couple weeks wages for a single person per constituency is a substantial barrier to finding candidates who hold a view that is held as important for even a modestly substantial part of the electorate.

Historically, people who hold political views strongly have been willing to risk a lot more than that for them.