Wikipedia:Notability (politics)

This page is about the failed proposal. For the current notability guideline, see Wikipedia:Notability (people) § Politicians and judges.

This notability guideline has been established to reflect consensus on the notability of articles closely related to politics and government. Subjects that fall under this guideline include, but are not limited to: politicians and activists, political parties, certain government agencies, and civil servants.

Applicable policies and guidelines

Further information: Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons and Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not § Wikipedia is not a soapbox or means of promotion

Political topics on Wikipedia have historically been considered one of the most prone to WP:BATTLEGROUND conduct. This is why users who edit in this field should always keep in mind all the WP:FIVEPILLARS, but they should especially focus on ensuring all content is verifiable and written from a neutral point of view.

While no topic is inherently notable just for being important, it is true that most important topics can be considered notable since reliable sources are likely to cover them. Politics and government are some such topics that very likely to receive coverage.

All information included in Wikipedia, including articles about sports, must be verifiable. In addition, the subjects of standalone articles should meet the General Notability Guideline. The guideline on this page provides bright-line guidance to enable editors to determine quickly if a subject is likely to meet the General Notability Guideline. Information about living persons must meet the more stringent requirements for those types of articles.

Subjects that do not meet the politics-specific criteria outlined in this guideline may still be notable if they meet the General Notability Guideline or another subject specific notability guideline.

Politicians

Main page: Wikipedia:Notability (people) § Politicians and judges

Basic criteria

Politicians meeting any one of the following conditions, as substantiated through reliable sources, are notable. Politicians meeting none of these conditions may still be notable if they meet the conditions of WP:BIO or other notability criteria. The merits of an article on the politician will depend largely on the extent to which it is verifiable. Before applying these criteria, see the general notes and specific criteria notes sections, which follow.

1. The person has been elected, appointed, or otherwise selected to be the head of state or government in any country.
2. The person served at or above the national cabinet level in a given country, but not merely in an acting capacity.
3. The person is a member of the supreme court for a country's national or subnational judiciary.
4. The person has been elected or appointed to serve on a given country's legislative body or legislature on a national or subnational level.
5. The person serves as a diplomat and has received significant coverage in crafting an international agreement related to a notable diplomatic event.
6. The person was nominated by a major political party for an election at the national level.
7. The person founded, leads, or operates a major political party or similar electoral organisation.
8. The person is a major local political figure who has received significant press coverage from two other countries.

General notes

International office holders

The holder of a position on the international level which is relatively comparable to a national office should be treated as if they held such country-level role for the purposes of notability (ie. the members of Pan-African Parliament are comparable to the parliamentarians of South African and thus are generally notable).

Local politicians

• Municipal politicians are not inherently notable just for being in politics, but neither are they inherently non-notable just because they are in local politics. Each case is evaluated on its own individual merits. Mayors of cities of at least regional prominence have usually survived AfD, although the article should say more than just "Jane Doe is the mayor of Cityville". Mayors of smaller towns, however, are generally deemed not notable just for being mayors, although they may be notable for other reasons in addition to their mayoralty (e.g. having previously held a more notable office). Note that this criterion has not generally been as restrictive as the criterion for city councillors. City councillors and other major municipal officers are not automatically notable, although precedent has tended to favor keeping members of the main citywide government of internationally famous metropolitan areas such as Toronto, Chicago, Tokyo, or London. Losing candidates for municipal election are not considered inherently notable just for their candidacy and are generally deleted unless previous notability can be demonstrated.
• American county-level legislators are generally considered to be similarly not-inherently notable just like municipal politicians.
• Local politicians whose office would not ordinarily be considered notable may still clear the bar if they have received national or international press coverage, beyond the scope of what would ordinarily be expected for their role. For example, a small-town mayor or city councillor who was the first LGBT person ever elected to office in their country, or who emerged as a significant national spokesperson for a political issue, may be considered notable on that basis. Note that this distinction may not simply be asserted or sourced to exclusively local media; to claim notability on this basis, the coverage must be shown to have nationalized or internationalized well beyond their own local area alone.

Candidates

• Candidates who are running or unsuccessfully ran for a national legislature or other national office are not viewed as having inherent notability and are often deleted or merged into lists of campaign hopefuls, such as Ontario New Democratic Party candidates in the 1995 Ontario provincial election, or into articles detailing the specific race in question, such as 2010 United States Senate election in Nevada. Note that such articles are still subject to the same content policies as any other article, and may not contain any unsourced biographical information that would not be acceptable in a separate article.
• Losing candidates for office below the national level who are otherwise non-notable are generally deleted. They are not moved to user space for fear of establishing a precedent that any premature article about an as-yet-unelected candidate for office can be kept in draftspace pending election returns, effectively making draftspace a repository for campaign brochures (see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Siân Gwenllian.)

Political figures not elected to public office

• Sub-cabinet officials (assistant secretary, commissioner, etc.) are usually considered notable, especially if they have had otherwise notable careers.
• The spouse of the head of state or government is usually regarded as notable.
• Leaders of registered political parties at the national level are sometimes considered notable despite their party's lack of electoral success. Leaders of major sub-national (state, province, prefecture, etc.) level are usually deleted unless notability can be demonstrated for other reasons.
• Ambassadors are not considered inherently notable.
• Civil servants who assume a political office on an interim or caretaker basis are not considered notable just for having briefly held that office, even if holders of the office are normally considered notable.

Specific criteria notes

1. The person has been elected, appointed, or otherwise selected to be the head of state or government in any country.

This criterion is intended to capture all major national leaders (from dictators to figure-head executives). Even if someone only served for an incredibly short period of time, it is not generally difficult to find reliable sources which cover these individuals.

2. The person served at or above, but not in an acting capacity, the national cabinet level in a given country.

3. The person is a member of supreme court for a country's national or subnational judiciary.

4. The person has been elected or appointed to serve on a given country's legislative body or legislature on a national or subnational level.

5. The person serves as a diplomat and has received significant coverage in crafting an international agreement or related to a notable diplomatic event.

6. The person was nominated by a major political party for a contest at the national level.

This criterion exists for those who would not otherwise meet any other criterion because of a lack of political experience. Generally in a presidential system, a political party's standard bearer has not always necessarily held prior public office. These individuals have regularly received a significant coverage. Since notability is not temporary, if a subject receives significant coverage, they should be presumed notable regardless of the outcome of the nominee's general election campaign.

"[M]ajor political party" means a political party with enough ballot access to be able to possibly win a given election. A political party barred from participating in elections entirely could still qualify however on a case-by-case basis.

Political parties

Main page: Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies)

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Elections

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Campaigns

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Government departments

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