Case Study Question 01

Read the following passage carefully and answer the following questions:
In some countries, power usually changes between two main parties. Several other parties may exist, contest elections and win a few seats in the National legislatures. But only the main parties have a serious chance of winning majority of seats to form government. Such a party system is called two party system. The United States of America and the United Kingdom are examples of two-party system. If several parties compete for power, and more than two parties have a reasonable chance of coming to power either on their own strength or in alliance with others, we call it a multi party system. Thus, in India, we have a multi party system. In this system, the government is formed by various parties coming together in a coalition. When several parties in a multi-party system join hands for the purpose of contesting elections and winning power, it is called an alliance or a front. For example, in India there were three such major alliances in 2004 parliamentary elections the National Democratic Alliance, the United Progressive Alliance and the Left Front. The multi party system often appears very messy and leads to political instability. At the same time, this system allows a variety of interests and opinions to enjoy political representation.