Nonpartisanism

In political science, nonpartisanism is a lack of affiliation with a political party.

Some organizations claiming to be nonpartisan are truly such; others are nominally nonpartisan (for reasons of law or public perception) but closely follow the policies of a political party.

While the dictionary definition of partisan includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., in many cases nonpartisan refers specifically to political party connections rather than being the strict antonym of "partisan", and an organization described as nonpartisan can have many decidedly controversial policies.

United States

Today, nonpartisan elections are generally held for municipal and county offices, especially school board, and are also common in the election of judges. The unicameral Nebraska State Legislature is the only state legislature that is entirely officially nonpartisan.

Although elections may be officially nonpartisan, in some elections (usually involving larger cities or counties, as well as the Nebraska Unicameral) the party affiliations of candidates are generally known, most commonly by the groups endorsing a particular candidate (e.g., a candidate endorsed by a labor union would be generally affiliated with the Democratic Party, while a candidate endorsed by a business coalition would be generally affiliated with the Republican Party).