Election update: other parties

Only 6 days until the election! The focus has been on the 3 main parties, but they are by no means the only parties at play in this general election. And if there's a hung parliament some of the smaller parties might form a coalition of power. Here are some of the other parties, all of whom are vying for seats in parliament.

• UK Independence Party (abbreviated as UKIP)--they're basically against the UK's involvement in the European Union
• Green Party (led by a woman: Caroline Lucas)--it's like it sounds: about ecology and promoting a sustainable society
• British National Party--Some of their policies are extreme. For example, until a few years ago, their party had a whites-only policy. (I wish I were joking.)
• Sinn Fein is Northern Ireland's biggest party; they're unionists, which means they don't think N.Ireland should be part of the UK but part of Ireland instead. Their 5 Members of the UK Parliament don't pledge allegiance to the Queen, so they can't vote in parliament. Also, they don't draw a salary because they don't actually come to Westminster to represent their constituency.
• Scottish National Party--Yes, they think Scotland should have independence from the UK.
• Plaid Cymru is the main Welsh party
• Respect Party--Anti-war party (especially anti-Iraq, but the UK has withdrawn its troops from Iraq); it's actually an acronym: Respect, Equality, Socialism, Peace, Environment, Community & Trade unionism