Independent Senator Nick Xenophon said his new political party had been approved by the Electoral Commission.

He said he would contest the coming election as part of the Nick Xenophon Group, a strategy which allows him to be listed above a line on the ballot paper.

Senator Xenophon said he had been told by the office of Clerk of the Senate he could still be described as an independent senator.

He said the current electoral rules were stacked against independents and could force them to be listed below the line, where it was harder to get voters to notice them.

Senator Xenophon made the switch from the upper house of the South Australian Parliament to the federal arena at the poll in 2007.