Above Znoneofthe (; born 28 June 1969) is a Canadian politician and perennial candidate. He changed his name to "Above Znoneofthe" with a silent "Z" so that his name would be placed last on alphabetical ballots (hence reflecting the idea of voting for

None of the Above "None of the above" (NOTA), or none for short, also known as "against all" or a "scratch" vote, is a ballot option in some jurisdictions or organizations, designed to allow the voter to indicate disapproval of the candidates in a voting system. ...

Biography

While a university student, Znoneofthe ran in the

1993 Canadian federal election The 1993 Canadian federal election was held on October 25, 1993, to elect members to the House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Considered to be a major political realignment, it was one of the most eventful elections in Canada's hist ...

as a candidate for the short-lived

National Party of Canada The National Party of Canada was a short-lived Canadian political party that contested the 1993 federal election. The party is not related to the earlier National Party that was founded in 1979. Formation Founded and led by Edmonton, Albert ...

in the

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

riding of Markham—Whitchurch-Stouffville, earning about 1% of the vote. Znoneofthe decided to re-enter politics in 2015, and legally changed his name so that it would appear on electoral ballots as "Znoneofthe, Above", adding a silent Z so that his name would appear at the bottom of alphabetical-order ballots. Znoneofthe explained that his name was chosen for those who do not usually vote, telling ''

CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...

'' that he thought, "one of these days we should get ‘none of the above’ on a ballot." He first ran under his changed name in a provincial by-election in

Whitby—Oshawa Whitby—Oshawa was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. Following the 2012 federal electoral boundaries redistribution, the bulk of the district became part ...

on 11 February 2016; however, since Ontario electoral ballots list candidates' names with their given names first, he appeared as "Above Znoneofthe". During a by-election in

Ottawa—Vanier Ottawa—Vanier (formerly known as Ottawa East) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1935. Previous to that date, it was part of the Ottawa electoral district ...

, Znoneofthe attempted to participate in a debate that he was not invited to, as a candidate under the None of the Above party. Audience members shouted for Znoneofthe and another candidate who was not invited to leave, but neither left until escorted off of the stage by police. Znoneofthe did appear last on the alphabetical order list of candidates in the ''CBC News'' article detailing the incident. He has since run in several by-elections as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

and as a member of the None of the Above Party, and most recently contested Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...

's riding of Papineau in the

2021 Canadian federal election The 2021 Canadian federal election was held on September 20, 2021, to elect members of the House of Commons to the 44th Canadian Parliament. The writs of election were issued by Governor General Mary Simon on August 15, 2021, when Prime Minist ...

as a member of the Rhinoceros Party.

Electoral record

Federal

Ontario

As Sheldon Bergson

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Znoneofthe, Above Living people Independent candidates in Ontario provincial elections 1969 births