A multi-party system is a system in which multiple political parties have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in coalition. An example of such a coalition being the one in existence between the Christian-Democratic Union of Germany and Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CDU/CSU) and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) set up after the 2009 federal elections. The effective number of parties in a multi-party system is normally larger than two but lower than ten. In the vast majority of multi-party systems, numerous major and minor political parties hold a serious chance of receiving office, and because they all compete, a majority may not come to be, forcing the creation of a coalition. In fact, in some countries, every government ever formed since its independence has been by means of a coalition. Multi-party systems tend to be more common in parliamentary systems than presidential systems and far more common in countries that utilize proportional representation compared to countries that utilize first past the post elections.
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“The United States is unusual among the industrial democracies in the rigidity of the system of ideological control—”indoctrination” we might say—exercised through the mass media.”
—Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)