Perennial candidate

A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can run for office, or laws that impose a non-negligible financial penalty on registering to run for election.

Definition

A number of modern articles related to electoral politics or elections have identified those who have run for elected office and lost two to three times, and then decide to mount a campaign again as perennial candidates. However, some articles have listed a number of notable exceptions.

Some who have had their campaign applications rejected by their country's electoral authority multiple times have also been labelled as perennial candidates.

Reason for running

It has been noted that some perennial candidates take part in an election with the aim of winning, and some do have ideas to convey on the campaign trail, regardless of their chance for winning.

Some perennial candidates may mount a run as a way to help strengthen his or her party's standing in a parliamentary body, in an effort to become kingmaker in the event of a political stalemate.

Some perennial candidates have been accused of running for office continuously as a way to get public election funding. Some have also been accused of being backed by the government of their country, in an effort to make the government appear more rational in comparison.

Americas

Argentina

* Jorge Altamira, leader of the Trotskyist Workers' Party, has run for President five times ( 1989, 1995, 1999, 2003 and 2011). His best performance was in 2011, with 2.30% of the votes.
* Nicolás del Caño, leader of the Socialist Workers' Party has run for political positions five times (2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021). His best performance was in 2019, with 2.16% of the votes.

Brazil

Due to the complex and intricate political system in Brazil concerning political parties, there are more than 30 political parties. In this scenario, it is very useful to have hopeless candidates who can make a good number of votes and increase the overall votes count of a party (or coalition). As a consequence, there are thousands of small perennial candidates for local elections around the country, whose sole purpose is helping others get elected, then ask for a job in the elected government cabinet.

* José Maria Eymael, a fringe political figure, ran for the Presidency six times ( 1998, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018 and 2022); he failed to reach 1% of the votes in any of those. He also unsuccessfully ran for mayor of São Paulo in 1985 and 1992, though he won two terms on the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil, from 1987 to 1995.
*Rui Costa Pimenta, leader and founder of the Trotskyist Workers' Cause Party (PCO), ran for the Presidency in 2002, 2010 and 2014 (his candidacy in 2006 was blocked by the Superior Electoral Court). He was last in all his runs, with his best performance being 0.04% of the votes in 2002.
* Vera Guasso, labor union leader and member of the Unified Socialist Workers Party (PSTU), ran for the Porto Alegre city assembly, mayor of Porto Alegre, the Brazilian Senate and other positions in a non-stop serial candidacy (every two years) from the early 90s on. In her best results, she had numbers of votes in local Porto Alegre elections similar to those of lesser-voted elected candidates but did not get a seat due to her party's overall voting being small. PSTU traditionally enters elections with no visible chance to, allegedly, "put a leftist set of points in discussion" and "build the party" but has lately achieved some expressive numbers.
*Enéas Carneiro, a cardiologist and founder of the far-right Party of the Reconstruction of the National Order (PRONA), ran for presidency three times, in 1989, 1994 and 1998. He was mostly known for his comical style of speech on political broadcasts (due in part to the reduced TV time his party had) and his distinct beard. He also ran for mayor in São Paulo at the 2000 elections, before finally being elected federal deputy in 2002 with record voting. He was re-elected in 2006 but died in 2007 from myeloid leukemia.
* José Maria de Almeida, leader of the Trotskyist United Socialist Workers' Party (PSTU), ran for the Presidency on four occasions: 1998, 2002, 2010 and 2014. His best performance was in 2002 when he got 0.47% of the votes.
*Levy Fidelix, leader and founder of the conservative Brazilian Labour Renewal Party (PRTB), ran for all municipal and general elections held in Brazil from 1996 to 2020. He was twice candidate for the Presidency (in 2010 and 2014), twice candidate for the Government of São Paulo (in 1998 and 2002) and five times candidate for the Prefecture of São Paulo (in 1996, 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020), never being elected for any position in his political career. He succumbed to COVID-19 on 23 April 2021.

Canada

* Michael Baldasaro (1949–2016), a leader of the pro-marijuana Church of the Universe, ran for Mayor of Hamilton, Ontario in 1988, 1991, 1994, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2010, and 2014 and, among other federal and provincial campaigns, attempted to seek the leadership of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 1988.
* Douglas Campbell has run as a fringe candidate for the House of Commons in the 1960s, the leadership of both the Ontario and federal New Democratic Party in the 1970s and 1980s, and Mayor of North York, Ontario. He ran for Mayor of Toronto in 2000, 2003 and 2006.
* Ross Dowson, leader of the Canadian Trotskyist group the Revolutionary Workers Party (later the League for Socialist Action) ran for Mayor of Toronto nine times in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. His best result was in 1949, when he won 20% of the vote in a two-man race. He also ran twice for the House of Commons of Canada.
* Terry Duguid is a Manitoba politician who has run multiple times for city council, mayor and MP in Winnipeg. He lost the 1995 Winnipeg Civic election and lost the 2004 and 2006 federal elections in Kildonan—St. Paul, then ran and lost in Winnipeg South in 2011. He ran in Winnipeg South again in 2015, this time winning the seat with 58% of the vote. He was re-elected for Winnipeg South in 2019 with 42% of the vote.
* Jim Enos, a Hamilton, Ontario-based social conservative and Christian activist, has sought elected office nine times over three decades. Enos ran provincially in 1999, 2007, 2011, and 2018, federally in the riding of Hamilton Mountain in 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2021, and for the public school board in the 2003 Hamilton Municipal Election. Enos has run with the Family Coalition Party of Ontario, Christian Heritage Party of Canada, and as an independent.
* Henri-Georges Grenier ran 13 times for the House of Commons of Canada between 1945 and 1980 on the tickets of a variety of political parties, for each of which he was the sole candidate.
* Ben Kerr, a street musician, ran for Mayor of Toronto seven times between 1985 and his death in 2005. He was best known for his country music performances and for advocating the medicinal benefits of drinking a concoction that has cayenne pepper as its main ingredient.
* Patricia Métivier contested 24 Canadian federal, provincial or municipal elections from 1972 to 2001.
* David Popescu has run for federal, provincial, and municipal office multiple times since 1998 on an extreme anti-abortion and anti-gay platform. While campaigning in the 2008 election, he advocated the execution of homosexual people, which precipitated charges under Canada's hate crime laws."Popescu charged for comments on gays"
''Sudbury Star'', March 6, 2009.
* Naomi Rankin ran for the Communist Party of Canada in 2008, her eighth attempt at becoming an MP. She has also run six times for the Communist Party of Alberta, all of which were also unsuccessful.
* Alex Tyrrell, leader of the Green Party of Quebec, has run 11 times between 2012 and 2022 for provincial general elections and by-elections.
* John Turmel is in the '' Guinness Book of World Records'' for being the candidate who has the "most elections contested" and lost 103 as of October 2022 (he also ran in a by-election canceled due to a general election).
* Harry Bradley ran for the Toronto Board of Control 24 times between 1930 and 1964. He also ran for mayor in 1960 and 1962, and for city council in 1969.
* Kevin Clarke is a homeless person who has unsuccessfully contested municipal, provincial and federal offices in Toronto numerous times from the 1990s to the present, often as leader of The People's Political Party.
* Régent Millette is a teacher in Quebec who has run for public office at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels over 25 times since 2000.
* Don Woodstock of Winnipeg has contested several positions at all three levels of government. He unsuccessfully ran for provincial seats in 2007 and 2011 as a Liberal, and in 2016 as an independent. He ran federally in 2015 as a Green candidate, and received national attention after being called a "son of a bitch" by NDP incumbent Pat Martin during a televised debate. Woodstock ran for city council in 2014 and ran as a mayoral candidate in the 2018 election.

Chile

* Salvador Allende unsuccessfully ran for the national presidency in the