key term - Coalition government

Definition

A coalition government is formed when two or more political parties join together to form a majority in the legislature, enabling them to establish a government. This often occurs in parliamentary systems where no single party has won an absolute majority of seats.

Related terms

Parliamentary System:

A system of democratic governance in which the executive branch derives its democratic legitimacy from, and is accountable to, the legislature (parliament); the executive and legislative branches are thus interconnected.

Majority Rule: A decision-making process that follows the principle that the preferences of more than half of the members of a group have the authority to make decisions binding upon the whole group.

Political Party: An organized group of people with at least roughly similar political aims and opinions, that seeks to influence public policy by getting its candidates elected to public office