7 July 1999 

"We are very proud of our 85 candidates who stood in the European Parliament election on 10 June giving everyone in the country the opportunity to vote for Natural Law. We were fortunate to have strong regional leaders, candidates and support teams who conducted lively campaigns in all of the 12 electoral regions of the UK. Their campaign was strengthened by a clear manifesto that tackled all the main issues of the election and offered effective solutions," said Richard Johnson, Chairman of the Natural Law Party of the UK, after the election results came in.

Party leader Dr Geoffrey Clements said: "We have seen the same old trend in voting habits. If the right wing is unsuccessful there is a swing to the left, and if the left is unsuccessful there is a swing to the right, and so on. But more and more people are beginning to realise that this never leads to better results. The low turnout in the election shows the disillusionment of the electorate with the options offered by the main parties. This merely underscores the deep and urgent need for the policies of the Natural Law Party."

While the party received a lower percentage of the votes than in the previous European election - 0.2% or 21,350 votes - party leaders were encouraged by the achievements of the campaign and the warm response of the public to the party's message.

In England, Scotland and Wales the Natural Law Party's five-minute Party Election Broadcast went out on 31 May on all TV channels (except Channel Four) along with main news bulletins and was seen by an estimated 12 to 15 million viewers. There was an excellent response to the broadcast, which highlighted the party's message to create a united, peaceful Europe of truly independent sovereign nations. It included new graphics to make the message easier to understand, particularly the party's initiative to create peace and coherence in Europe through Yogic Flying.

Many people called party headquarters after the broadcast to say it was the party's best ever broadcast and that they were now finally beginning to understand the message and wanted to vote Natural Law. Some Labour Party supporters called to say that they were switching to Natural Law because they felt let down by the Labour government's support for the bombing of Yugoslavia and for GM foods and welcomed the NLP's approach to create peace and to ban GMOs.

In spite of the general lack of interest in election issues shown by the media, there was some excellent coverage of the party's message during the campaign. The BBC TV main news bulletins on 12 May mentioned the launch of the Natural Law Party manifesto and the fact that the party was calling for an end to the bombing of Yugoslavia. Following this the BBC web site included a summary of all the main points of the Natural Law manifesto, which remained posted throughout the campaign. An article in The Times reviewing the web sites of the parties pointed out that the Natural Law Party was the only party taking the election seriously and presenting detailed policies for Europe. 

There were particularly good reports in some of the local and regional media following public meetings and press conferences held around the country after the Party Election Broadcast. Party leaders travelled widely to address these meetings which included demonstrations of Yogic Flying and took place in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Birmingham, Bristol, Durham, Leeds, Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Plymouth and Southampton.

In Northern Ireland, party leader James Anderson reported that the party received its best ever media coverage with extensive reports in all of the main newspapers, radio and TV.

Greater appreciation of the party's message "One frequent experience of the NLP candidates and campaigners was that wherever they met people personally at hustings, public meetings or when giving out leaflets they found a significantly greater appreciation of the party's message than in previous campaigns," Mr Johnson said.

"Wherever we had the opportunity to explain party policy effectively, people responded very favourably, recognising the importance of our programmes. Many of them wanted to join our campaign. The candidates also found that the points they had to give out from our manifesto were more comprehensive and satisfying than ever before, dealing with all the prominent concerns about the European Union as well as effectively presenting our key points about Natural Law and our programmes to raise consciousness.

"Furthermore, in areas where our candidates and the party had a higher profile or were better known, we usually received a higher vote. This happened for example where we gave out leaflets on the streets as in Bradford or Brixton, or where we are already established as in Glasgow near the Maharishi Vedic Centre," he added.

Regarding the reduced vote for the Natural Law Party compared to previous elections, deputy party leader Peter Warburton commented: "Our vote may well have been affected by the fact that the national media gave very little coverage to any aspect of the campaign and the issues involved. It was probably the lowest profile election campaign ever, with all parties complaining about lack of coverage. This was partly because Kosovo dominated the news and partly because the British public does not fully appreciate the increasing powers of the European Parliament - the election saw one of the lowest voter turnouts ever. With this lack of substantial coverage of the issues it could be argued that people voted only in response to the simplistic slogans of other parties calling for Britain to be in or out of Europe and the single currency.

"Media commentators have observed that it has been left to the political parties in Britain to educate the public about the role of EU institutions, but none of the big parties did this effectively during the campaign. In our next NLP Euro manifesto we plan to outline clearly the structure and responsibilities of the European Parliament so that the public knows what they are voting for and why we are the best choice. We obviously have to convince people of the sophistication of our message and show that our policies tackle issues on the most profound and comprehensive level and offer fulfilment to the highest ideals of every party and every individual."

Reviewing the election results in Europe as a whole, Dr Reinhard Borowitz said: "The 440 Natural Law Party candidates who contested the European Parliament elections in seven European Union countries clearly accomplished their first objective - to spread the knowledge of Natural Law to society and in the field of politics. The result of such campaigns in the 83 countries where the party is now active is to increase substantially the acceptance of Natural Law programmes all around the world." 

Dr Borowitz, the party's lead candidate in Germany and Secretary General of the Maharishi International Council of Natural Law Parties, reported that the 440 candidates won a total of 150,000 votes. Due to the undemocratic election procedures in several EU countries the Natural Law Party participated in the election in only seven countries - France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

The Natural Law Party received the highest percentage of votes in Ireland with 0.5%. In France, the Party received an overall 0.4%, with its best results in the overseas territories: 6.3% in Guadeloupe and 2% in Martinique, La Reunion and Polynesia. In other countries the party received sim ilar results to those in the UK with about 0.2% of the votes (21,350 votes in the UK).

Commenting on a lecture to some 300 people in Stuttgart, where he spoke as part of a 20-city tour, Dr Borowitz said: "It is really a great joy to see how people are waiting for this new approach in politics." Benoit Frappe, party leader from France, said: "The media were much more receptive to us than in previous elections. Some papers that in the past refused to even talk to us started publishing articles about our policies." And party leader Juan Francisco Alvarez from Spain said: "The campaign was very uplifting and rewarding. Young people were especially open to our policies."

In Britain and other countries Natural Law Party leaders, candidates and supporters now look forward to the Annual International Convention of Natural Law Parties to be held in Bonn at the end of July, and to building up the profile of the party in future campaigns.