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Inpolitical science, amulti-party system is apolitical system where more than two meaningfully-distinctpolitical parties regularly run for office and winelections.[1] Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries usingproportional representation compared to those usingwinner-take-all elections, a result known asDuverger's law.
In these countries, usually no single party has a parliamentary majority by itself (hung parliaments). Instead, multiple political parties must negotiate to form acoalition with a majority of the vote, in order to make substantial changes.
Unlike aone-party system (or adominant-party system), a multi-party system encourages the generalconstituency to form multiple distinct, officially recognized groups, generally calledpolitical parties. Each party competes for votes from theenfranchised constituents (those allowed to vote). A multi-party system prevents the leadership of a single party from controlling a singlelegislative chamber without challenge.
A system where only two parties have a realistic possibility of winning an election is called atwo-party system. A system where only three parties have arealistic possibility of winning an election or forming acoalition is sometimes called a "third-party system".[citation needed]
A two-party system requires voters to align themselves in large blocks, sometimes so large that they cannot agree on any overarching principles. Some theories argue that this allowscentrists to gain control, though this is disputed. On the other hand, if there are multiple major parties, each with less than a majority of the vote, the parties are strongly motivated to work together to form working governments. This also promotes centrism, as well as promoting coalition-building skills while discouraging polarization.[2][3]
Argentina,Armenia,Belgium,Brazil,Canada,Denmark,Finland,France,Germany,Iceland,India,Indonesia,Ireland,Israel, theNetherlands,New Zealand,Norway, thePhilippines,Poland,Sweden,Tunisia,Turkey andUkraine are examples of countries with multi-party systems.
