# Multi-party system > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Multi-party_system > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Multi-party_system.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-party_system > Source revision: 1354877548 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Political system with three or more parties This article needs more citations. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Multi-party system" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (October 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message) Part of the politics series Party politics Political spectrum Left–right spectrum Far-left Left-wing Centre-left Centre Centre-right Right-wing Far-right Other Big tent Radical centrism Syncretism Major ideologies Agrarianism Anarchism Communism Conservatism Fascism Green politics Liberalism Libertarianism Monarchism Nationalism Regionalism Social democracy Socialism Types Antisemitic Bloc Bourgeois Cartel Catch-all Competitive Elite Entrepreneurial Ethnic Euro Fraternal Major and Minor Mass Official party status Parliamentary opposition Party of power Volks Ruling and Opposition Rump Single-issue Transnational or International Leaders and organization Backbencher Caucus Caucus chair Frontbencher Lead candidate Leader of the Opposition Majority leader Minority leader Political faction Parliamentary leader Party chair Party leader Party spokesperson Party secretary Shadow cabinet Whip Internal elections Primary election Leadership election Open list Party convention/conference Leadership convention Party discipline Conscience vote Crossing the floor Party discipline Party line Party-line vote Party switching Whip Party systems One-party Dominant-party Two-party Multi-party Non-partisan Coalitions between parties Coalition government Confidence and supply Consensus government Cordon sanitaire Divided government Electoral alliance Grand coalition Hung parliament Majority government Minority government National unity government Parliamentary group Rotation government Lists of political parties Ruling political parties by country Political parties by region Banned political parties Largest political parties Politics portal v t e Part of a series on Politics Outline Index Category Primary topics Outline of political science Index of politics articles Politics by country Politics by subdivision Political economy Political history Political history of the world Political philosophy Systems Anarchy City-state Collective leadership Confessional Democracy Dictatorship Directorial Federacy Feudalism Hybrid regime Meritocracy Monarchy Parliamentary Presidential Republic Semi-parliamentary Semi-presidential Theocracy Academic disciplines Political science (political scientists) International relations (theory) Comparative politics Election science Political analysis Political theory Policy studies Political psychology Political sociology Public administration Bureaucracy (street-level) Technocracy Adhocracy Service (Public / Civil) Policy Public policy (doctrine) Domestic policy Foreign policy Civil society Public interest Government branches Separation of powers Legislature Executive Judiciary Election commission Related topics Sovereignty Polity / State / Country Biology and political orientation Critique of political economy Political censorship Political organisations Theories of political behavior Subseries Electoral systems Elections voting Unitarism Federalism Government (forms / Governance) Ideology Culture Political campaigning Political parties Politics portal v t e In [political science](/source/Political_science), a **multi-party system** is a [political system](/source/Political_system) where more than two meaningfully distinct [political parties](/source/Political_parties) regularly run for office and win offices (eg, membership in parliament) in [elections](/source/Election).[1] Multi-party systems tend to be more common in countries or jurisdictions (together, 'polities') which use [proportional representation](/source/Proportional_representation) forms of election, compared to those that have implemented [winner-take-all](/source/Winner-take-all_system) elections; this tendency is known as [Duverger's law](/source/Duverger's_law). In multi-party countries or polities, usually no single party achieves at an election a parliamentary majority on its own (elections result in what are sometimes called [hung parliaments](/source/Hung_parliament)). Instead, to craft a majority, multiple political parties must negotiate to form a [coalition](/source/Coalition) (also known as a 'minority government') which can command a majority of the votes in the relevant legislative organ of state (eg, parliamentary chamber). This majority is required in order to make laws, form an executive government, or conduct basically any of the necessary work of the parliament or the government (eg, to choose a president, elect parliamentary leadership, adopt a legislative agenda, or change rules of parliamentary procedure). This tendency to not give sufficient power to one party to alone make significant changes—at least not without the support of other parties elected—tends to moderate governmental decision making in multi-party system jurisdictions; generally, it encourages negotiation over ideological purity, and more centrist, cooperative and compromising parties, governments and policies. ## Comparisons with other party systems Unlike a [one-party system](/source/One-party_state) (or a [dominant-party system](/source/Dominant-party_system)), a multi-party system encourages the general [constituency](/source/Constituency) to form multiple distinct, officially recognized groups or alignments-of-interest, generally called [political parties](/source/Political_party). Each party, especially but not only during election campaigns, competes for votes from the [enfranchised](/source/Suffrage) constituents (those allowed to vote) of the relevant polity. A multi-party system prevents the leadership of a single party from controlling a single [legislative](/source/Legislative) chamber, at least not without ongoing challenge from other 'opposition' or 'minor' or 'minority' parties. A special case of a multi-party system where only two parties have a realistic possibility of winning an election is called a [two-party system](/source/Two-party_system). A two-party system requires voters primarily to align themselves in (two) large blocks; these blocks are sometimes so large that they cannot agree internally on appropriate policies or even on overarching or organisational principles. Some theories argue that this gives [centrists](/source/Centrism) (including those in each of the two main blocks or parties) more opportunities to gain control, though this is disputed and depends largely on the features of elections (e.g., compulsory voting; political fundraising regulations) and institutions, and the tradition of rule of law, in the relevant polity. 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, over time, to allow for the formation of working governments, or indeed any (democratically justifiable) government. Multi-party systems can also tend to promote centrism, privilege coalition-building, slow down or stimie major policy pivots, moderate policy adventurism, and discourage polarization, especially polarization of the leader of a coalition (polarization here referencing an ideological movement to the extremes, or 'poles' (edges), of political opinion by political parties—and thus by polities and their leaders).[2][3] ## By country [Argentina](/source/Argentina), [Armenia](/source/Armenia), [Australia](/source/Australia), [Belgium](/source/Belgium), [Brazil](/source/Brazil), [Canada](/source/Canada), [Chile](/source/Chile), [Denmark](/source/Denmark), [Finland](/source/Finland), [France](/source/France), [Germany](/source/Germany), [Iceland](/source/Iceland), [India](/source/India), [Indonesia](/source/Indonesia), [Ireland](/source/Republic_of_Ireland), [Israel](/source/Israel), [Italy](/source/Italy), the [Netherlands](/source/Netherlands), [New Zealand](/source/New_Zealand), [Norway](/source/Norway), the [Philippines](/source/Philippines), [Poland](/source/Poland), [Sweden](/source/Sweden), [Turkey](/source/Turkey) and [Ukraine](/source/Ukraine) are examples of countries with multi-party systems. ## See also - [List of ruling political parties by country](/source/List_of_ruling_political_parties_by_country) - [Polarized pluralism](/source/Polarized_pluralism) - [Political organisation](/source/Political_organisation) - [Ingroups and outgroups](/source/Ingroups_and_outgroups) ## References 1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** [Education 2020](http://student.education2020.com/activities/vocab.aspx?keystr=12674&order=02010205&stbl=2196465) definition of *multiparty*: "A system in which several major and many lesser parties exist, seriously compete for, and actually win public offices." 1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** The social science literature has contributed enormously in recent years on the effects on forms of government and quality of life of the citizens. Lowell's axiom is one of the most tested theory empirically tested (Lowell, A.L., 1896). [Governments and Parties in Continental Europe. Bostin, MA: Houghton Mifflin).](https://www.academia.edu/29273929/Is_multi-party_coalition_government_better_for_the_protection_of_socially_backward_classes_in_India). 1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Basu, K., Dey Biswas, S., Harish, P., Dhar, S., & Lahiri, M. (2016). Is multi-party coalition government better for the protection of socially backward classes in India? UN-WIDER Working Paper, 2016 (109). Authority control databases International GND Other Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Multi-party system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-party_system) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-party_system?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.