Coalition government
Switzerland has been ruled by a consensus government with a coalition of the four strongest parties in parliament since 1959, called the "Magic Formula".Between 2010 and 2015, the United Kingdom also operated a formal coalition between the Conservative and the Liberal Democrat parties, but this was unusual: the UK usually has a single-party majority government.The country was governed by the My Step Alliance coalition after successfully gaining a majority in the National Assembly of Armenia following the 2018 Armenian parliamentary election.In Belgium, a nation internally divided along linguistic lines (primarily between Dutch-speaking Flanders in the north and French-speaking Wallonia in the south, with Brussels also being by and large Francophone), each main political disposition (Social democracy, liberalism, right-wing populism, etc.)During the First World War, Prime Minister Robert Borden attempted to form a coalition with the opposition Liberals to broaden support for controversial conscription legislation.According to Moore, as long as that kind of leadership selection process remains in place and concentrates power in the hands of the leader, as opposed to backbenchers, then coalition governments will be very difficult to form.The Liberal–Conservative coalition introduced a winner-take-all preferential voting system (the "Alternative Vote") in the hopes that their supporters would rank the other party as their second preference; however, this strategy backfired in the subsequent 1952 British Columbia general election where, to the surprise of many, the right-wing populist BC Social Credit Party won a minority.They were able to win a majority in the subsequent election as Liberal and Conservative supporters shifted their anti-CCF vote to Social Credit.When the Social Democrats under Stauning won 46% of the votes in the 1935 election, this was the closest any party has gotten to winning an outright majority in parliament since 1918.The German political system makes extensive use of the constructive vote of no confidence, which requires governments to control an absolute majority of seats.However, Raj Narain, who had unsuccessfully contested an election against Indira from the constituency of Rae Bareli in 1971, lodged a case alleging electoral malpractice.As the popularity of the Janata Party dwindled, Desai had to resign, and Chaudhary Charan Singh, a rival of his, became the fifth Prime Minister.However, the general election of 1989 once again brought a coalition government under National Front, which lasted until 1991, with two Prime Ministers, the second one being supported by Congress.The first successful coalition government in India which completed a whole five-year term was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance with Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister from 1999 to 2004.Then another coalition, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance, consisting of 13 separate parties, ruled India for two terms from 2004 to 2014 with Manmohan Singh as PM.In 2019, Narendra Modi was re-elected as Prime Minister as the National Democratic Alliance again secured a majority in the 17th general election.India returned to an NDA led coalition government in 2024 as the BJP failed to achieve an outright majority.Although Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been serving in government together since 2020, they haven't formed coalition before due to their different roots that goes back to Irish Civil War (1922–23).The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) held a legislative majority of its own in the National Diet until 1989 (when it initially continued to govern alone), and between the 2016 and 2019 elections (when it remained in its previous ruling coalition).The Democratic Party of Japan (through accessions in the House of Councillors) briefly controlled a single-party legislative majority for a few weeks before it lost the 2010 election (it, too, continued to govern as part of its previous ruling coalition).The LDP-New Liberal Club coalition government lasted until 1986 when the LDP won landslide victories in simultaneous double elections to both houses of parliament.It was later expanded and rebranded as Barisan Nasional (BN), which includes parties representing the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak.This occurred when the newly formed Perikatan Nasional (PN) coalition partnered with BN and Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS).In 2022 after its registration, Sabah-based Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) formally joined the government (though it had been a part of an informal coalition since 2020).Turkey's first coalition government was formed after the 1961 general election, with two political parties and independents represented at cabinet.The media and the general public view coalition governments as unfavorable and unstable due to their lack of effectiveness and short lifespan.[citation needed] Following Turkey's transition to a presidential system in 2017, political parties focussed more on forming electoral alliances.Another stated advantage is that a coalition government better reflects the popular opinion of the electorate within a country; this means, for instance, that the political system contains just one majority-based mechanism.A second difficulty might be the ability of minor parties to play "kingmaker" and, particularly in close elections, gain far more power in exchange for their support than the size of their vote would otherwise justify.After WW II, the German system, district based but then proportionally adjusted afterward, contains a threshold that keeps the number of parties limited.
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