Two party system...or what's the story?

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

The USA is said to have a two-party system because though there are actually a number of political parties in this country, only two of them have serious power while the others are insigificant.

But I wonder how it really is elsewhere. Which political parties, say, in Britain have the strongest political power compared to others? Are there more than two political parties who are truly strong, and have some parties gained in strength over the years while others declined? I wonder about this.

Why bring it up? Years ago the story was about that the USA had most of the world's lawyers, effectively implying just how litigous we were. In actuality, it turned out this figure came from the fact that the definition of "lawyer" in other countries was not the same as it is here, so it was all a matter of lying with statistics.

So is it really true that outside the USA, you might have five viable candidates for high office as opposed to two here, or is that a myth as well?

[Masked Ninja]

If I remember my political science class correctly, the reason the US has a two-party system is because most states have a "winner take all" policy. So if you win a state, you get all its electoral votes... even if the vote was 49% to 51%, you get 100%. Which means that it's always a tossup between the two biggest parties.

If all the states were to adopt a proportional allocation of their electoral votes, third parties could actually run up a score in the electoral college as opposed to getting beat out all the time, or only winning a state or two. And seeing them run up a score might encourage people to join the third party that most represents their political beliefs, instead of settling for which of the two main parties they agree with more (because after all, it's only those two that have a chance in our current system). And that would probably result in a whole group of parties. Which would solve some of our problems, but probably introduce a whole new set of its own. :P

Politics. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

[CudleyCowlick]

Politics. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.

Politicians. Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em.

[PAAATE]

But I wonder how it really is elsewhere.

Now that you mention it, there are only two big parties in Sweden; Socialdemokraterna (the Social democrats) and Moderaterna (the Moderates)... The chairman of whatever party wins, takes the role as prime minister.

But, in the same election, if a party gets over 4% of the votes it'll be a member of the Riksdag (Parliament), so it'll still have something to say.

Also, the number of seats you'll get in the riksdag depends on how many votes you got, this is the current numbers:

Social Democratic Party (130)
Moderate Party (97)
Centre Party (29)
Liberal People's Party (28 )
Christian Democrats (24)
Left Party (22)
Green Party (19)

A lot of people think that in the next election in 2010, the bottom three will fall out and the racist-party Sverigedemokraterna (Sweden Democrats) will enter instead... I really hope they're wrong...

[Mecha Cow]

This probably explains it better than I could (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_the_Netherlands).

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Also, differ parliamentary elections and presidential elections.

[KROW]

Politicians. Can't live with 'em, can't shoot 'em.

Sure you can. The trick is not to get shot yourself afterward.