Third-party source

A third-party source (as opposed to first-party source or second-party source) is independent of the first party and second party in a transaction, interview, or written description (etc.). A first-party source comes directly from the first party (such as a self-published document or product description). A second-party source is controlled by the second party, such as a customer who has written some product requirements, or a prior book or article written by the same author.

In commerce, a "third-party source" means a supplier (or service provider) who is not directly controlled by either the seller (first party) or the customer/buyer (second party) in a business transaction. The third party is considered independent from the other two, even if hired by them, because not all control is vested in that connection. There can be multiple third-party sources with respect to a given transaction, between the first and second parties. A second-party source would be under direct control of the second party in the transaction.

Third party

Third party may refer to:

Politics

Acting in third of three roles

Business and marketing

Third party (politics)

In electoral politics, a third party is any party contending for votes that failed to outpoll either of its two strongest rivals (or, in the context of an impending election, is considered highly unlikely to do so). The distinction is particularly significant in two-party systems. In any case "third" is often used figuratively, as in "the third parties", where the intent, literally stated, is "the third and succeeding parties".

For instance, in the United Kingdom a third party is a national political party, other than the Conservatives and Labour, which has at least one member in the House of Commons. Since 2015, it is used for the Scottish National Party. In Scotland the dominant parliamentary party since 2007 has been the Scottish National Party with the Labour party the next largest party and the Conservative party third.

In the United States of America, there have been numerous "third parties". The largest since the mid-20th century are the Libertarian and Green Parties.

Third party (United States)

The term third party is used in the United States for any and all political parties in the United States other than one of the two major parties (Republican Party and Democratic Party). The term can also refer to independent politicians not affiliated with any party at all and to write-in candidates.

Current U.S. third parties

This list does not include political organizations that do not run candidates for office but otherwise function similarly to third parties. For non-electoral political "parties", see here.

Largest (voter registration over 75,000)

Smaller parties by ideology

This section includes only parties that have actually run candidates under their name in recent years.

Right-wing

This section includes any party that advocates positions associated with American conservatism, including both Old Right and New Right tendencies.