Arshad Ali is a British psychologist, political activist and politician who was the leader of the Respect Party from November 2012 until December 2012, when he was forced to resign after evidence of a prior conviction for election fraud came to light.
Ali was a longstanding Respect campaigner, having contested on council elections in Bradford's Manningham ward in 2007 and in the general election in 2010. He tried and failed to win Bradford West,[1] the constituency taken by George Galloway in 2012 in a landslide victory.
Ali's election as Chair-elect of the Respect Party was announced by Respect Party national secretary Chris Chilvers on 5 November 2012.[2] [3] Ali stood down as the national chair in December 2012 after it emerged he had a spent conviction for electoral fraud.[2] In 1997, Ali was in jail for six weeks following his conviction for electoral fraud.[4]
Later, he stood for election to a City Council seat as a Respect Party candidate in Bradford in 2014, but failed.[5]