Political colours are colours used to represent a political ideology, movement, party, or a politician either officially or unofficially. They represent the intersection of colour symbolism and political symbolism. Politicians making public appearances will often identify themselves by wearing rosettes, flowers, ties or ribbons in the colour of their political party. Parties in different countries with similar ideologies sometimes use similar colours. As an example, the colour red symbolizes ideologies further to the left of the political spectrum, sometimes referred to as left-wing politics. In some countries this has also been associated with Communism (leading to the use of such terms as "Red Army" and "Red Scare"). The colour blue is often used for conservatism, politics that lie further to the right of the political spectrum, and thus referred to as "right of centre" or "right wing" politics. In more recent years, the colour yellow has been commonly associated with liberalism and right-libertarianism, while the colour green has an association with Green politics so-named after the ideology's choice of that colour and concern with environmental issues, also commonly described as being green.

Though there are some commonalities, the political associations of a given colour do vary from country to country and there are exceptions to the general trends. For example red has historically been associated with Christianity, but over time gained association with leftist politics, while the United States differs from other countries in that conservatism is associated with red and liberalism with blue. Mass media has driven a standardization of colour by political party, to simplify messaging, while historically the colour a candidate chose to identify with could have been chosen based on other factors such as family or regional variations.

Associations of different colours

Black

Black is primarily associated with anarchism (see anarchist symbolism); black is a lack of colour, and anarchism is a lack of a state. It is used in contrast of national flags, to instead represent universal anarchism. Black is also used to a lesser extent to represent ideologies on the opposite end of the spectrum: fascism (see Blackshirts and Schutzstaffel/Gestapo) and jihadism (see Black Standard).

The colours black and red have been used by anarchists since at least the late 1800s when they were used on cockades by Italian anarchists in the 1874 Bologna insurrection, and in 1877 when anarchists entered the Italian town Letino carrying red and black flags to promote the First International. During the Spanish Civil War the CNT used a diagonally half strip of black and red, with black representing anarchism and red representing the labour movement and the worker movement. The flag was quickly adopted by other anarchists, with the second colour used to distinguish specific anarchist philosophies: anarcho pacifism with white, green anarchism with green, anarcho-syndicalism and anarcho-communism with red, mutualism with orange, and anarcho-capitalism with yellow, while black alone typically represents 'anarchism without adjectives'.

During the Golden Age of Piracy, the black flag, or Jolly Roger of pirates such as Blackbeard and Samuel Bellamy became popular symbols of piracy. The flags represented death and no quarter to those who did not surrender. The Crossed Swords Jolly Roger, falsely attributed to John Rackham, has become a popular and recognizable symbol of pirates, particularly of pirates of the Americas. The skull and bones also became a hazardous symbol to display poisons such as cyanide, Zyklon B and other toxic substances. The black flag of piracy would later be considered as symbols of anarchist movements like Makhnovshchina and the Kronstadt rebellion, but the piracy elements in flags of the Makhnovshchina has been proven false by Nestor Makhno himselfp.280. The skull and bones was also used in other military troops including right-wing ones like Schutzstaffel, Chetniks and Lavr Kornilov's white russian army. The rise of internet piracy led to the symbols of the golden age of piracy becoming widely adopted, becoming the symbols of pirate sites such as the Pirate bay. Black becoming a colour to represent pirate parties.

Black was also used by some anti-racist and Black nationalist parties, such as the Black Panther Party in the United States and the Popular Unity in Brazil.

Anti-clerical parties in the late 19th and early 20th centuries sometimes used the colour black in reference to the officials of the Roman Catholic Church because the cassock is usually black. In Germany and Austria, black is, due to the black clerical robes of 19th century priests and Jesuits active in politics, the colour historically associated with Christian democratic parties, such as the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), the Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU) and the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP); however, this is only customary, as the official colours of the CDU are usually either one of or a mix of different shades of yellow, orange or blue, depending on the regional branch of the party, with the nationwide party also using the red, black and gold from the German flag as official colours. The CSU uses a medium dark shade of blue as their official colour, as seen in their logo. In 2017, the ÖVP changed their official colour from black to turquoise, with some regional branches switching to turquoise as well, while others continue to use black, often in a mix with another colour, such as red, yellow, green or blue. In Italy, black is the colour of fascism because it was the official colour of the National Fascist Party. As a result, modern Italian parties would not use black as their political colour; however, it has been customary to use black to identify the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement. In the Islamic world, black flags (often with a white shahadah) are sometimes used by jihadist groups. Black was the colour of the Abbasid caliphate. It is also commonly used by Shia Muslims, as it is also associated with mourning the death of Husayn ibn Ali. It is now known as the flag colour of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. In Malaysia, the People's Solidarity Secretariat (SSR), an umbrella youth organization, launched the Black Flag Movement (#BenderaHitam) in 2021 as a resistance-based protest against the then ruling Perikatan Nasional government. The Malaysian United Democratic Alliance (MUDA) also adapted the colour black as their official colour. In Russia, black was used for monarchism and nationalist movements, such as the Black Hundreds before their defeat. In India, black has often been a theme in protests. In the state of Tamil Nadu, black is associated with the Dravidar Kazhagam, a left-wing social movement, led by Periyar, a social reformer and politician. In Brazil, the far-left socialist and anti-racist party Popular Unity has black as its official colour.

Blue

Blue is usually associated with centre-right or conservative parties, originating from its use by the Tories (predecessor of the Conservative Party) in the United Kingdom. Blue is used by many international organizations of centre right and conservative parties, such as the International Democrat Union, the Democrat Union of Africa, the Asia Pacific Democrat Union, the Caribbean Democrat Union (together with red), the European Democrat Union, the European People's Party, the European Conservatives and Reformists Party. The field of the flag of the United Nations is light blue, chosen to represent peace and hope. It has given rise to the term "bluewashing". The colour blue, normally of a lighter shade, is of prime significance in Judaism. The flag of Israel features two blue horizontal stripes and a blue Star of David, so blue, often combined with white, is often used by mainstream Zionist parties and movements, such as the Jewish National Fund or more recently the Blue and White alliance. See also , National colours of Israel and Zionism. In Australia the colour blue has been associated with conservatism and the right since pre-federation, taking influence from the United Kingdom. The major centre-right, conservative political party, called the Liberal Party of Australia, uses blue, as did its predecessor party: United Australia. In Austria, blue is heavily associated with the right-wing populist Freedom Party and with pan-Germanism. It is the Freedom Party's official colour, and its members are generally referred to as "blues" in the media and colloquial speech. The blue cornflower was a national symbol of Germany in the 19th century, often associated with Prussia. It later became a symbol for Pan-German nationalists in Austria, such as Georg Ritter von Schönerer's . In 1930s Austria the cornflower was also worn by members of the then illegal NSDAP, as a secret symbol and identifier. After 1945, MPs of the Freedom Party wore cornflowers on their lapels at the openings of the Austrian parliament, until they switched to the more "Austrian" Edelweiß in 2017. In Argentina, blue is associated with the syncretic Peronist movement. The left-wing populist Frente de Todos uses sky blue alongside the Justicialist Party, the main party of the front. Federal Peronism, which represents the right wing of the Peronist movement and the conservative Christian Democratic Party current, uses dark blue. In Belgium, blue is associated with liberalism, used both by the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats as the Reformist Movement. In Brazil, blue is associated with mainstream centre-right, liberal and conservative parties opposed to populism, often associated with the left but also opposed with the populist reactionary right, like National Democratic Union, National Renewal Alliance, Progressive Party, Brazilian Social Democracy Party, Democratas and Brazil Union. The first major party which used blue was the far-right Brazilian Integralist Action, but their successors use Gold. In Canada, the Conservative Party uses blue. Also, blue is often used to represent Quebec.Bernier Arcand, Philippe, « Bleu, histoire d'une couleur politique », Histoire Québec, 2018, Vol. 3, no 4, pp. 15–17 The Bloc Québécois, a federal party centred around Quebec nationalism, uses blue, as do major provincial parties in Quebec like the Parti Québécois and Coalition Avenir Québec. The colour is also used to represent the many provincial Conservative parties, often called the "Progressive Conservative Party" or PC, for short. In Germany, the far-right Alternative for Germany uses a light blue as their primary colour. In Honduras, blue is used by the conservative National party. In Hong Kong, blue is used by pro-Beijing camp, but also used by localists (for symbolizing Hong Kong independence). In India, sky blue is associated with the Indian National Congress, a centrist political party. Meanwhile, dark blue is associated with the Dalit Movement, represented by multiple parties: Republican Party of India (and its Athawale splinter), Bahujan Samaj Party, etc. In Indonesia, blue is used by the centrist Democratic Party and the center-left NasDem Party. It is also used by the islamist party National Mandate Party. In the Republic of Ireland, blue is associated with the centre-right Fine Gael party, going back to the Blueshirts, a quasi-fascist uniformed group that merged into the party in 1932. "Blueshirt" is a common derogatory term for Fine Gael, and they often use blue in party materials. In Japan, blue is associated with liberal, centrist, and centre-left parties. Three centre-left parties in Japan with elected representatives use blue: the Constitutional Democratic Party, Democratic Party for the People, and the Social Democratic Party. Historically, blue was used by Japan Socialist Party. In Malaysia, blue was currently used to represent both Barisan Nasional (royal blue) and Perikatan Nasional (solid blue).