UK political party flogged on eBay

The MP3 Party, a UK political party which aimed to simplify British government and civil administration, has put itself up for sale on eBay.

The party, which was officially registered as a political party in 2002 by the UK Electoral Commission, is currently on sale on the online auction site for a starting bid of £2,000. The political party has been for sale on eBay for the past three days and has yet to attract a single bid.

The founders of the party, who include Russian-born Ruslan G. Fedorovsky, have decided to sell up, saying they are "too preoccupied with their own projects to make MP3 Party into real political force". They say they hope the new owner will be someone who can take the party forward.

In addition to becoming the new owner of the MP3 Party, a successful bidder will get all rights to existing party logos, the party domain names - www.theMP3Party.com and the www.MP3Party.co.uk - and all current party officials will be replaced by the lucky bidder's new party officials at the UK Electoral Commission.

The inspiration for the party's name is drawn from the MP3 community, who swap digital media files online. Based on the mathematical theory of complex systems, the party's philosophy states that complex systems of any kind are inherently dysfunctional. Therefore when social, legal and administrative systems reach a certain level of complexity they cease functioning. The MP3 Party wanted to apply this mathematical theory to politics and government.

In addition to attracting voters from amongst the MP3 community, the party was also targeting young voters were uninterested in old-fashioned political process and systems. The party sought to implement its simplification policy into all aspects of life in the UK, including taxation, law, economics, foreign policy, immigration and the monarchy. One of the proposed slogans for the party read: "Elect us and we will delete one regulation per day, one law per week, one subsidy per month and one tax per year."

Copyright © 2005, ENN