General Election 2015: A guide to the smaller parties, from the National Health Action Party to the Church of the Militant Elvis Party

During the great debate about the debates at the start of this campaign, the Democratic Unionist Party in Northern Ireland was outraged ("Outrageous!" cried its leader, Peter Robinson) after being excluded from the seven-way ding-dong on ITV. Elsewhere, there was concern about overcrowding. But had you extended that line of lecterns to include all of the parties vying for votes in tomorrow's elections, it would have been almost a mile long.

The Al-Zebabist Nation of Ooog, the Deep Earth Ecosphere Preservation Alliance, and Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers are among 462 registered parties. Beyond the big two, the big three and the big seven, the list includes scores of genuinely small parties, from the very local (Residents' Association of Cuddington) to the niche (War Veteran's Pro-Traditional Family Party), the novelty (the Church of the Militant Elvis Party), and the potentially tautological (the Party Party).

Most of these names will appear on ballot papers in only one constituency. Most will lose deposits of £500 per constituency when they fail to win five per cent of the vote. Most will have effectively wasted the £150 registration fee paid to the Electoral Commission (plus an annual fee to stay on the list). But among the raving loons and satirists, there are plenty of parties who might stand to do well, if only they had a voice.

Clive Peedell co-founded and jointly leads the National Health Action party (NHA). He is running as a candidate in Witney, one of the safest seats in the country, where he dreams of unseating the Conservative incumbent, David Cameron. "But a big part of our problem is just being recognised," he says while driving to a hustings. "If you ask the average person in the street if they have heard of us, it would be a very low percentage."

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Peedell, who has put his career as an oncologist on hold to fight for the NHS, is one of 12 candidates his party is putting up, most of whom are also doctors. He has the support of a press officer, Giselle Green, but while his fight against Cameron has gained national and international press attention, his party has struggled locally. "I remember, in a hustings before the Eastleigh by-election two years ago, we got a minute next to the Beer, Baccy and Crumpet Party," Green says.

The Witney Gazette had been due to cover the launch of Peedell's campaign but, the candidate says, it has ignored the NHA while giving precious column inches to his rivals, including a female golfer campaigning against tax on sport, and a Muppet (Bobby Smith is the leader of the Give Me Back Elmo Party, which wants better rights for fathers). "We are healthcare professionals taking unprecedented steps to defend the healthcare system with a wide range of policies," Peedell says. "That deserves attention."

It can be hard to be taken seriously when the electorate expects small parties to be novelty groups, but even those inspired, perhaps, by Screaming Lord Sutch say that they have a role in democracy. "We bring issues to the voters that the main parties don't," says Lord Biro, the leader of the Church of the Militant Elvis Party. The veteran loser of deposits has run for a number of parties, all founded by himself. His issues have included potholes, climate change, public lavatories (he wants more) and a campaign to install Bono as the Pope.

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Waleed Ghani (pictured left), the founder (or reviver) of the Whig Party, is running in Vauxhall, a Labour safe seat in south London. "I really don't understand why more people don't set up parties," he says. "The way I see it, there are 650 really good jobs up for grabs, and people should be competing for them. But while the system is good, the people in the system always seem to represent a professional political class." He adds: "We can all raise the standards of political discourse."

The barriers to standing for election have moved with time but are traditionally low. Rules were tightened in 1998 to prohibit confusing names. Before that, the Liberal Democrat candidate in the 1994 European elections launched a legal challenge after he narrowly lost to the Literal Democrat Party. He lost in court, too, but, like the Conversatives and the Conservatories, the Lit Dems would now not be able to run. Yet the Electoral Commission has allowed Heydon Prowse, the comedy activist, to run against Grant Shapps as "Michael Green", the Conservative candidate's alter ego. And, to Nigel Farage's chagrin, Al Murray was also allowed to register the parody Free United Kingdom Party (FUKP).

The Commission, which allows parties to have up to six words in their names, has also moved to stop the use of ballot papers as (relatively) cheap billboards. In 1997, the Mongolian Barbecue Great Place to Party party won 112 votes in Wimbledon. (The restaurant has since closed.) Names that are deemed likely to cause offence are also now prohibited. The Beer, Baccy and Crumpet Party faced ruin when officials decided "crumpet" could be interpreted as derogatory to women rather than a yeasty griddle cake. But it lived to lose another election after changing its name. Its leader, Ray Hall, is now standing in Eastleigh for the Beer, Baccy and Scratchings Party. The latest polling suggests that he may win one per cent of the vote.

In Witney, Peedell says he will be delighted to keep his deposit, but is looking beyond tomorrow. He finds inspiration in a rare occasion on which a small party has triumphed. In 2001, Dr Richard Taylor won a surprise victory for his Health Concern party in Wyre Forest after campaigning to restore Kidderminster Hospital's accident-and-emergency department. He won again in 2005, but lost in 2010. Now aged 80, he is running this year for the NHA.

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In Stafford and South West Surrey, meanwhile, Peedell believes the party has a good chance of victory. "If we got one seat we'd be on a par with the Greens and Ukip," he says. "Then we'd have a good chance of getting on to the Health Select Committee. Those votes will not have been wasted."

THE ALSO RANS: 200 SERIOUSLY SMALL PARTIES

Excluding those parties already holding seats, the eccentrics and those simply seeking publicity – as well as those campaigning on local or single issues – there are still a multitude of political movements in the UK, all hoping to save their deposits tomorrow. From the 450-plus parties registered for this election, these (may) deserve your consideration:

2015 Constitutionalists UK

21st Century Conservative Democrats

21st Century Democracy

A Better Way to Govern

All People's Party

Alliance EPP: European People's Party UK

Alliance for Green Socialism

Alliance for Workers' Liberty

Alternative Party

Animal Welfare Party

Apolitical Democrats

Britannica

British Commonwealth Party

British Constitution Party

British Democratic Party

British Independents

Campaign

Centre Democrats

Centreground Party

Christian Democrat Party for a Consensus

Christian Democratic Party

Christian Movement for Great Britain

Christian Party "Proclaiming Christ's Lordship"

Christian Peoples Alliance

Citizens First

City Independents

Class War

Co-operative Party

Common Good

Common Sense Party

Communist League Election Campaign

Communist Party of Britain

Communities Against the Cuts

Communities United Party

Community Action Party

Community First

Community Representatives Party

Consensus

Deep Earth Ecosphere Preservation Alliance

Democracy First

Democratic Independence Party

Democratic Reform Party

Democratic-Republican Party

Digital Democracy

Direct Democracy (Communist) Party

District First

English Democrats

English Independence Party

English National Party

English Parliamentary Party

English People's Party

Equal and Just Society

Equal Parenting Alliance

Europeans Party

Everyone's Party

Free Public Transport Party

Free United Kingdom Party

Get Snouts Out The Trough

Harmony Party

Hoi Polloi

Humanity

Independence from Europe

Independent Democrats

Independent Green Voice

Independent Group of Councillors

Independent Labour Group

Independent Sovereign Democratic Britain

Independent Voice-Community Focus

Independent Working Class Association

Interactive Democracy

Internet Democrats

Islam Zinda Baad Platform

iXDemocracy

Jubilee Party

Justice Party

Kaizen Liberal Utilitarian Democrats

Keep It Real Party

Land Party

Left Unity

Libertarian Party

Liberty GB

Life

Local Voice

Mainstream

Matriarchal Party United Kingdom Great Britain

Meritocracy Partaidh na h-Alba

Movement for Active Democracy (MAD)

National Health Action Party

National Liberal Party – True Liberalism

National Republican and Democratic Party

Nationwide Reform Party

New Deal

New England Party

New Independent Centralists

New Parliament Party

Newclear Outline (NO)

Party of Dissent

Patria

Patriotic Socialist Party

People Against Bureaucracy Group

People First Party

People Social Freedom Party

People's Administration

People's Democratic Party

Population Party UK

Populist Party

Power to the People

Pro Liberty

Progressive Party

Proletarian

Real Democracy Party

Rebooting Democracy

Red Flag Anti-Corruption

Reform

Reform 2000 Party

Representative Democracy Party

Restore the Family for Children's Sake

Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)

Say Yes! To a Fair Society!

Scotland Against Crooked Lawyers

Scottish Democratic Alliance

Scottish Socialist Party

Scottish Unionist Party

Scottish Voice

Socialist Alliance

Socialist Alternative

Socialist Equality Party

Socialist Labour Party

Socialist People's Party

Solidarity – Scotland's Socialist Movement

Something New

Stand

The 30-50 Coalition

The Animal Protection Party

The Awakened Nation

The British Empire Party

The British Voice

The Commonwealth Liberation Party

The Community Group

The Democratic Party

The Democratic Realist Party

The European Citizens Party

The Evolution Party

The Fair Party

The Free Democratic Party

The Free Energy Party UK

The Globalisation Liberation Dream Party

The Independent Political Alliance Party

The Independent Socialist Party

The Independents Alliance

The Just Political Party

The Justice & Anti-Corruption Party

The Ligali Party

The Local Party

The Money Free Party

The Nationwide Party

The Peace Party – Non-violence, Justice, Environment

The Peoples Party for Better Government

The Pilgrim Party

The Pluralist Party

The Principles of Politics Party

The Priority Party

The Protest Party

The Radical Party

The Realists' Party

The Referendum Party

The Republican Socialists Party

The Say No Party

The Sensible Party

The Socialist Party of Great Britain

The Sustainable Population Party

The True English (Poetry) Party

The U(niversal) Party

The UK Progressive Democracy Party

The United Democratic Party

The United in Europe Party

The Whig Party

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition

True Democracy Party

Truly Independent English Party

Ubuntu Party

UK Community Issues

UK Meritocracy Party

United Kingdom People Quality Life Party

Unity for Peace and Socialism

Valour

Veritas

Village Voice

Vivamus

Vox Pop

War Veteran's Pro-Traditional Family Party

We Are the Reality Party

We Demand a Referendum Now

Workers Revolutionary Party

Working Families Party

World Peace Through Song

Yes 2 Europe

Young People's Party YPP

Your Decision

Yourvoice