In various countries with multi-party systems, there is the concept of government coalitions. As I understand it, it is similar to cartel agreements, which we prosecute under criminal law.
- But why are coalitions legal and needed?
- Why does the multi-party system in Switzerland work without coalitions?
Not sure how you get cartel from government coalitions.
A country will have a requirement that a party need to have X number of seats to be the leading party. If you have 3 parties and none of them individually meet the requirements then 2 of them may work together to become big enough to get the required number of seats.
X is usually “more than half”
Same thing happens in the US. To win, you need more than half the votes. We just have various factions that divide into 2 parties, instead of multiple parties dividing into 2 factions.
Not always more then half, there have been instances where a government in Australia has formed with less then half of the seats. I believe those are called minority governments
Canadian here. A minority gov is one which has less than X seats (where X is 50% in Canada and I believe Australia too), and usually that requires a coalition. “Forming government” in a parliamentary system like these basically means “has a good chance of passing meaningful legislation.” Since the leading party can’t do so alone, they form an agreement with another party (or multiple) to help them reach that criteria.
It is entirely possible for the party with the most seats to also not form government, if they’re far enough below 50% and can secure no agreement with another party to push them across the line. In these situations, another general election would soon follow.
That’s when they need a coalition