However, the Court struck down the " choice of expenditure " rule, which required that parties could either make coordinated expenditures for all its candidates, or permit candidates to spend independently, but not both, which they agreed " placed an unconstitutional burden on the parties ' right to make unlimited independent expenditures.

This is the primary difference between clean money public financing systems and the presidential campaign system, which many have called " broken " because it provides no extra funds when candidates are attacked by 527s or other independent expenditure groups.

First, in January 2010 the U. S. Supreme Court held in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that government may not prohibit unions and corporations from making independent expenditure for political purposes.

It also, from 2009, had a panel of three investigators: a general investigator to undertake specific investigations covering the administration and policy of the agencies, a financial investigator covering expenditure issues, and a legal advisor to provide the committee with independent legal advice.

Westly's candidacy also was hurt by an unprecedented multi-million dollar independent expenditure by Sacramento real estate developer and longtime Angelides patron Angelo Tsakopoulos.

The ad was run as an independent expenditure, separate from the Bush campaign, which claimed not to have had any role in its production.

While corporations or unions may not give money directly to campaigns, they may seek to persuade the voting public through independent expenditure groups.

The basic need for the NAO arises from these three fundamental principles, in that, as Parliament votes on public expenditure of various activities by public bodies, they need auditors that are independent of the body in question, the government and / or opposing political parties ; while auditing for compliance and legal spending by departments on the activities voted for by Parliament, in a transparent and public forum.

The inverse of the dependency ratio, the inverse dependency ratio can be interpreted as how many independent workers have to provide for one dependent person ( pension & expenditure on children )

If a candidate, his agent, his authorized committee, his party, or an " agent " for one of these groups becomes " materially involved ", the expenditure is not independent.

These groups are also called independent expenditure committees.

Under the umbrella term independent expenditure group are:

Individuals can give campaign contributions directly to candidates, groups associated with the candidate, or independent expenditure groups.

This type of PAC allowed unlimited spending on like minded individuals and ballot measures provided it was an independent expenditure.

According to that list, an otherwise independent expenditure could be invalidated if, an " agent " does something as simple as suggesting an advertisement be made.

Additionally, an organization making an independent expenditure must include a federally mandated disclaimer identifying the person or organization paying for the communication and stating that the communication was not authorized by a candidate or candidate ’ s committee.

Some claimed, like Stephen Colbert, that much of the so called independent expenditure was in reality coordinated.

Overall, the claim of independent expenditure by groups during the 2012 was very much a repeat of claims made during previous elections.

In 2004, the presidential campaigns of both Senator John Kerry and President George W. Bush were faced with attacks from 527 independent expenditure committees.

In 2006, the Republican National Committee ran an independent expenditure television commercial aimed at Congressman Harold Ford, Jr., who was campaigning for an open Senate seat in Tennessee.

Freedom ’ s Watch had aired a campaign commercial against Democratic congressional candidate Don Cazayoux as an independent expenditure.

* The overriding objective was to cap public expenditure on independent sector residential and nursing home care.

The representative favors a campaign finance system that provides increased opportunities for candidates who lack the benefits of private interest and independent expenditure committee funding.

The McCrory campaign spent $ 3. 4 million and an independent expenditure funded by the Republican Governor ’ s association assisted McCrory with a further $ 6. 2 million in spending on attack ads on McCrory ’ s opponent.

During the following year, three different men briefly held executive power before Galo Plaza Lasso, running under a coalition of independent Liberals and socialists, narrowly defeated his Conservative opponent in presidential elections.

The vote is believed to have been one of the freest ever held in independent Georgia although an upsurge of tension between the central government and the Ajarian leader Aslan Abashidze affected the elections in this region.

The CTRN drafted laws to create republican institutions and to provide for independent political parties, national elections, and freedom of the press.

The constitution also provides for an independent organ to supervise and implement elections, the Superior Electoral Tribunal.

A group called " Elect Jersey 2005 " worked to assist some independent candidates prepare for the elections.

Some of the groups contesting these elections are affiliates of the major political parties, while others are so-called independent student bodies. But proving their affiliation by their works.

Kyrgyzstan's independent political parties competed in the 1996 parliamentary elections.

Powerful families also still play an independent role in mobilizing votes for both local and parliamentary elections.

When it appeared that, in spite of heavy pressure, non-communist parties might receive in excess of 40 percent of the vote in the August 1947 Hungarian elections, an all-out repression was instituted to suppress independent political forces.

Despite international validation of the elections by multiple political and independent observers ( virtually all from among U. S. allies ) the United States refused to recognize the elections, with President Ronald Reagan denouncing the elections as a sham.

In partisan elections, candidates are nominated by a political party or seek public office as an independent.

Since the defeat of the constitutional referendum in 2000, politics in Zimbabwe has been marked by a move from the norms of democratic governance, such as democratic elections, the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law, freedom from racial discrimination, the existence of independent media, civil society and academia.

In early 2010, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited pursuant to the right of these entities to free speech.

Lumumba's youngest son, Guy-Patrice, born six months after his father's death, was an independent presidential candidate in the 2006 elections, but received less than 10 % of the vote.

* Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ( 2010 ) the Supreme Court of the United States held that corporate funding of independent political broadcasts in candidate elections cannot be limited under the First Amendment, overruling Austin ( 1990 ) and partly overruling McConnell ( 2003 ).

November 2003 municipal elections were conducted freely, returning a majority of supporters of the president, but also significant numbers of independent and regional opposition figures.

A congress for this purpose held in 1989 did not result in much progress towards this goal, although independent parties were still very successful in municipal elections especially in Hilversum and Utrecht.

In the November 1947 general elections, the PAC put forward several members as independent candidates.

However, in the mayoral elections, the voters have frequently supported independent candidates.

In the local elections of 2007, many local councillors from the major parties were displaced by independent candidates whose main issue as a group is the construction of a road bypass which they believe is being deliberately denied by the Lincoln-centric members of the Lincolnshire County Council.

" In 2011, Ventura expressed interest in running with Ron Paul for the 2012 presidential elections if the latter decided to run as an independent.

On 7 November 2010, in an exclusive interview ( the last given before his return to Haiti ) with independent reporter Nicolas Rossier in Eurasia Review and the Huffington Post, Aristide declared that the 2010 elections were not inclusive of his party Fanmi Lavalas and therefore not fair and free.

The most recent elections were in May 2008, following which the council is made up of eight Conservatives, three Liberal Democrats, two members of the Labour Party and three independent councillors.