A political endorsement is a public declaration of one's personal or group's support of a

candidate A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * ...

for

elected office An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their s ...

. In a multiparty system, where one party considers that it does not have enough support to win power, just prior to the election, the official representative of that party may give an official endorsement for a party that they consider more likely to be a contender. In Australian electoral law, "electoral endorsement" is a specific term and a candidate can only be endorsed by a registered party. There are also presidential endorsements.

Literature

* Elections Voting theory {{poli-term-stub