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Abloc party (German:Blockpartei), sometimes called asatellite party, is apolitical party that is a constituent member of anelectoral bloc. However, the term also has a more specific meaning, referring to non-ruling but legal political parties in a one-party state (most notablycommunist states as auxiliary parties and members of a ruling coalition, differing such governments from pureone-party states such asNazi Germany and theSoviet Union) although such minor parties rarely if ever constitute opposition parties or alternative sources of power.[1] Otherauthoritarian regimes may also have multiple political parties which are nominally independent in order to give the appearance of political pluralism, but support or act inde facto cooperation with the government or ruling party.
The concept has its roots in thepopular front idea where Marxist and non-Marxist political parties and other organisations would belong in an umbrella organisation. Following the end ofWorld War II, elections were held in areas already under Soviet influence who would become members of theEastern Bloc, that while giving voters a choice would be seen as a step towards a totalitarian, Communist-led regime. Bloc parties were able to retain their non-Marxist orientation, but in practice were always subordinate to the ruling Communist party, and were required to accept the Communists' "leading role" as a condition of their continued existence. All legal parties and civic organisations were required to be members of the official Communist-dominated coalition. Elections were not competitive as the composition of legislatures was generally pre-determined.
Parties only occasionally dissented from the line of the ruling party. Some parties were pre-existing, others had been newly formed, to appeal to specific sectors of society. However, during thefall of Communism, many hitherto subordinate bloc parties would begin to assert their independence and play a role in the democratisation process, while others would be unable to continue functioning either due to a loss of guaranteed yet artificial representation (granted to them by the ruling Communist Party), or due to the stigma of being associated with subservience to the Communists, and would either dissolve or fade into obscurity.
East Germany,Czechoslovakia,Poland andBulgaria operated bloc party systems where non-communist parties were constituent members of an official coalition. A similar system operates inChina today.
In the German Democratic Republic, theNational Front was the umbrella organisation which included the rulingSocialist Unity Party of Germany, other political parties and various non-party organisations.
Germany was since 1945 divided into four occupation zones. Each occupying power decided which parties it allowed. Four parties were initially allowed in all four zones:
The Soviet occupying government also allowed two other parties. They were both founded in 1948 on the initiative of the communists:
All parties in theSoviet zone had to work together in the National Front under the leadership of the communists. This organisation also included so-called mass organisations, such as the communist-led trade union and the women's association or the youth association. The National Front determined the electoral list for the parliamentary elections: There was only one unified list of the entire National Front in a parliamentary election in the GDR.
As the Communists consolidated their power, the bloc parties all jettisoned their original programs. All of them nominally embraced "socialism", becoming loyal partners of the SED. With few exceptions, they voted unanimously for all government proposals. One of the few notable dissensions of a bloc party occurred in 1972 when members of the CDU in theVolkskammer took a stand against the legalisation of abortion, with the party's deputies either voting against the law or abstaining.
Duringthe 'peaceful revolution' of 1989, the bloc parties began to assert themselves and emerge as independent parties, leading to the first and onlyfree election to the Volkskammer in 1990. During the process ofGerman reunification, the bloc parties merged with their western counterparts. Non-party organisations such as theFree German Youth,Kulturbund and theDemocratic Women's League of Germany broke their formal affiliation with the former ruling party, but only the Free German Youth still operates today.
In China, under the premise ofunited front, eightdemocratic parties in the People's Republic of China have been recognized by the government. All the eight parties established in China before the creation ofPeople's Republic of China, and are willing to collaborate with theChinese Communist Party administration, have been recognized as "parties that can help joint administration of the country under Chinese Communist Party's lead". These parties are tasked to accept Chinese Communist Parties' leadership as well as political principle and direction.[3][4]
The1946 elections saw only parties of theNational Front, dominated by theCommunist Party of Czechoslovakia, take part. However, elections were competitive, with the Communists andSocial Democrats prevailing in the Czech lands, and the anti-CommunistDemocratic Party winning a comfortable majority in Slovakia. In 1948, however, the Communistsseized power and non-Marxist parties were made subordinate to the Communists. During theVelvet Revolution, the parties became more assertive in pressuring for change, and transformed themselves for democratic politics. The Christian democraticCzechoslovak People's Party remains a player in Czech parliamentary politics.
The1947 elections were blatantly rigged in favour of the Democratic Bloc, with Communist and Socialist parties being merged to form thePolish United Workers' Party (PZPR). In 1952 theFront of National Unity was formed, including the PZPR, the agrarianUnited People's Party (ZSL) and the centristDemocratic Party (SD), while up to three Catholic associations also had representation in theSejm. Occasionally, deputies from these groups (most notably the CatholicZnak) offered limited criticism of government policies. A number of deputies from bloc parties also voted against the imposition ofmartial law in Poland, after which the Front of National Unity was replaced by thePatriotic Movement for National Rebirth which included the same as well as additional member organisations.
In 1989,partly free elections were held in whichSolidarity won an overwhelming majority of freely contestable seats- only 35% of the Sejm- while the PZPR and bloc parties were reserved 65% of the seats. The ZSL and SD formed a coalition government with Solidarity, thus forming Poland's first non-Communist government since World War II. The SD continues today, whereas the ZSL eventually evolved into today'sPolish People's Party. Two of the Catholic associations with Sejm representation continue today as lay Catholic organisations.
During Communist rule in Bulgaria, theBulgarian Agrarian National Union was the only other legal party than theBulgarian Communist Party as a member of theFatherland Front. A number of successor parties exist in post-Communist Bulgaria.
The rivalFLOSY collapsed in 1967, leaving theNational Liberation Front as the sole liberation front inSouth Yemen. It formed with the assadistPeople's Vanguard Party and the marxist Democratic Popular Union Party the "Unified Nationalist Front Political Organization" before merging into theYemeni Socialist Party in 1978.
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In countries likeNorth Korea orVietnam (until 1988), bloc parties also exist, playing a subordinate role to ruling Communist parties as constituent members of official coalitions.
In some countries, there were bloc parties before they were merged into the communist party. The members of theHungarian National Independence Front were merged into theHungarian Working People's Party in 1949. ThePeople's Front of Yugoslavia originally had other party members. By 1953, the remaining bloc parties in thePeople's Democratic Front of Romania had been dissolved. TheNational United Front of Kampuchea included monarchistKhmer Rumdo and pro-North VietnameseKhmer Issarak. The alliance betweenKhmer Rouge and monarchists was later revived in theCoalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea as the internally recognised government-in-exile against the likewise communist dominatedPeople's Republic of Kampuchea.
A few examples of a bloc party system also exist in non-Communist regimes.
TheCommunist Party of Austria, while being in opposition, attempted to create bloc parties. TheSocialist Workers' Party [de] was meant to replace theSocialist Party of Austria as the main social democratic party while theDemocratic Union [de] was planned to replace theAustrian People's Party as the main conservative party. Together they formed the "Austrian People's Opposition" in the1953 legislative election but only won 5.24%, crushing the plan.[5]
ThePeople's Power party, a split-off of the rulingGeorgian Dream, has been described as a satellite party by various observers.[6][7][8]
In theRepublic of Iraq, theNational Progressive Front was an umbrella organisation compromising theBa'ath Party and several other pro-government parties, who in practice played a subordinate role to the Ba'ath Party. TheKurdistan Revolutionary Party, a faction of theKurdistan Democratic Party and theMovement of Progressive Kurds [de] were also accepted. The Ba'ath Party was overthrown and dissolved after theinvasion of Iraq.
Up to the 1970s,Labor Zionist parties created so-calledArab satellite lists asMapai only allowed Jewish members. These lists consisted of local politicians and clan leaders to secure wide support but they were loyal towards they patron and even voted to continue theMilitary rule over Arabs in Israel [he] in 1961.[9]
InMexico during the rule of theInstitutional Revolutionary Party (PRI, 1929–2000),partidos paleros (satellite parties) included theAuthentic Party of the Mexican Revolution and theSocialist Popular Party. These helped the PRI government give the superficial appearance of a competitive democratic system. In fact, both satellite parties fully supported the government and co-nominated the PRI candidates for the Presidency of Mexico until 1988.
TheAll-Russia People's Front includes the rulingUnited Russia,A Just Russia – For Truth,Rodina,New People, theProgressive Socialist Party of Ukraine,[10] the Russian Union ofAfghanistan Veterans, the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, theYoung Guard of United Russia, theFederation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia, and others.
In 1976, the constitution was amended to allow three parties: a socialist party (the rulingSenegalese Progressive Union), a liberal party (theSenegalese Democratic Party) and a Marxist-Leninist party (theAfrican Independence Party – Renewal).[11]
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TheFuture Korea Party was a bloc party of theUnited Future Party (UFP), at the time the country's main opposition party. All parties excluding the UFP accepted a new election law starting in 2020 which led to the adoption of a more proportional election system. Thirty seats now used theadditional-member system, which allocates on a compensatory manner to make seats more closely match the popular vote if a party won a lower percentage of seats via single-member constituencies than their popular vote percentage. The AMS is more disadvantageous for larger parties like the UFP andDemocratic Party (DP) than the prior system, which did not compensate parties for differences between their popular vote percentage and seat percentage, as the two major parties have generally won a larger percentage of seats than their popular vote percentage. As a result, the UFP sought to exploit the new system by making a bloc party for the2020 South Korean legislative election in order to get more electoral seats that are under their control, as they would otherwise be allocated little or no extra compensatory seats. The DP did the same with thePlatform Party. Both bloc parties were dissolved following the election.
In theSyrian Arab Republic, theNational Progressive Front was an umbrella organisation comprising theBa'ath Party and several other pro-government parties, who in practice played a subordinate role to the Ba'ath Party. Traditionally, legal political parties were required to follow the socialist and Arab nationalist or pan-Arabist orientation of the al-Assad regime. Later, parties were no longer required to do so in order to receive legal recognition and one such party, theSyrian Social Nationalist Party, was both legalised and admitted to the NPF. This gave rise to suggestions other parties that are neither socialist nor Arab nationalist would gain recognition, but ethnically based (Kurdish or Assyrian) parties continued to be repressed, and Islamist parties remained illegal. All members were banned in 2025.
UnderMartial law in Taiwan, only three parties were allowed: theKuomintang, theChina Democratic Socialist Party and theYoung China Party. Until 1986, no opposition was allowed and they were barred from campaigning. Since the 1970s, there had been independent opposition candidates nicknamedTangwai.[12][13]
The country operated under a one-party system under theDemocratic Party of Turkmenistan (TDP) from independence until 2008. However, the country remainstotalitarian with the TDP not facing any competitive challenges in elections. The two other parties in the legislature as of 2018, theAgrarian Party andParty of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, are seen as having only been created in order to give the impression of a multi-party system.
The country's ruling party, theLiberal Democratic Party, has never faced true opposition since its creation, with all other parliamentary parties seen as being allied with the government, only existing to give the impression of multi-party politics.
In 2020, theSupreme Tribunal of Justice imposed ad hoc leaderships on many opposition parties which either called to boycott the2020 parliamentary election or joined the leftist oppositionPopular Revolutionary Alternative alliance.[14] Among them wasJustice First ofanti-presidentJuan Guaidó.[15] Some described them as being turned into bloc parties.[16]