What is "third party"

n. 1 someone not directly involved in a transaction. A third entity in the Seller (first party) and Customer (second party) relationship. A Seller may employ a third party to perform specific services to augment the value of a product. For example, a manufacturer may employ a third party to pack and distribute a product. A computer manufacturer may augment their product with software from a third-party supplier. 2 someone only incidentally or tangentially connected to an incident or dispute; someone other than the principals; a bystander or independent witness. 3 a political party in opposition to the main parties in a two-party system

1. n. someone other than the principals who are involved in a transaction

2. a political party organized in opposition to the major parties in a two-party system

The term third party is used in the United States for any and all political parties in the United States other than one of the two major parties ( Republican Party and Democratic Party).

In electoral politics, a third party is any party contending for votes that failed to outpoll either of its two strongest rivals (or, in the context of an impending election, is considered highly unlikely to do so). The distinction is particularly significant in two-party systems. In any case "third" is often used figuratively, as in "the third parties", where the intent, literally stated, is "the third and succeeding parties".

For instance, in the United Kingdom a third party is a national political party, other than the Conservatives and Labour, which has at least one member in the House of Commons. Since 2015, it is used for the Scottish National Party. In Scotland the dominant parliamentary party since 2016 has been the Scottish National Party with the Conservative party the next largest party and the Labour party third.

In the United States of America, there have been numerous "third parties". The largest since the mid-20th century are the Libertarian and Green Parties.

The term "third parties" is used mostly in countries with first past the post electoral systems, as those systems tend to create a two-party system, so that successful smaller parties are rare.

Countries using proportional representation give little advantage to the largest two parties, so they tend to elect many parties. Therefore, in those countries, three, four, or more political parties are usually elected to legislatures. In such parliamentary systems, coalitions often include smaller parties; since they may participate in a coalition government, there is not a sharp distinction with a 'major' party. In two-party systems, on the other hand, only the major parties have a serious chance of forming a government. Similarly, in presidential systems, third-party candidates are rarely elected president.

In some categorizations, a party needs to have a certain level of success to be considered a third party. Smaller parties that win only a very small share of the vote and no seats in the legislature often are termed minor or fringe parties.

Third party may refer to:

Third Party is an album by American instrumental hip hop duo Blue Sky Black Death. It was released on Fake Four Inc. in 2010. The album is a collaboration with Alexander Chen of Boy in Static.

Third Party (stylized as Third ≡ Party) is a British DJ duo consisting of Jonathan Macaire (Jonnie Macaire) and Harry Bass. They have released numerous tracks for the label Size Records, along with also releasing tracks on Heat Recordings and their own label, Release Records.

In Canada, a third party has two distinct meanings in the political process. For legal and official purposes, a "third party" refers to agents other than candidates and voters who participate in elections. For example, campaign advertisements funded by groups other than the parties and candidates running may be called "third party advertising". During a campaign period, registered third parties must declare their sources of funding and are restricted in the amounts they can spend in advocating for or against a party or candidate. See Harper v. Canada for the Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of these restrictions in the Canada Elections Act.

The second, formerly popular, definition is derived from the phrase in American parlance: a relatively small federal or provincial political party that is not usually considered to have a realistic chance of forming a government, but has representation in the federal House of Commons or the provincial legislature. While both the Congressional and Westminster parliamentary systems tend to reward two dominant parties or blocs, the ability in the latter for third parties to compete and affect the outcome of elections is a major point of differentiation for Canadian political culture and history. In the US, a " third party" describe any party besides the Democrats and Republicans as regardless of their relative position; in the Canadian context (and for the purposes of this article), it more commonly refers to the largest party that does not form the government or Official Opposition. The efficacy of these parties often depends on whether they qualify for party status and are thus entitled to play a formal role in the legislative process. Since the House of Commons standing orders were amended in 1963 to recognize smaller parties, the third-largest party has always met the criteria for status. However, each legislature has different standards, and this is not always the case.

Like the United Kingdom (on which much of its democratic tradition is based), Canada has been described as a "two and a half" party system, with multiple effective parties, only two of which are contenders for government at any one time, though most provinces have outgrown this definition. During minority government situations, third parties may hold the balance of power, and thus exercise significant control over the government's policy. In some cases, such a party has swept to power by "coming through the middle", as with the emergence of the Social Credit Party of British Columbia in 1952–53.

The official meaning has become more prevalent in recent years, since the current Canadian Parliament has seated members from five different parties, making the usual usage less meaningful.