SACRAMENTO—Ralph Nader has been selected as the Peace and Freedom Party's presidential candidate, beating three other contenders at the party's nominating convention on Saturday.

Nader and his running mate, former San Francisco supervisor Matt Gonzalez, will only appear as Peace and Freedom candidates in California, the only state in which the party is ballot-qualified.

The consumer rights activist will appear on other states' ballots as an independent, or as another party's candidate.

Nader, the Green Party presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000, also ran as an independent in 2004.

On Saturday Nader beat out former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Gloria La Riva, the party's candidate for governor in 1994 and 1998, and Brian Moore, a labor rights organizer and former Peace Corps volunteer.

The Peace and Freedom Party is the smallest political party recognized by the state with 56,364 members, or 0.35 percent of registered voters.