Political party

A political party is a political organization that seeks to attain political power within a government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns. Parties often espouse a certain ideology and vision, but may also represent a coalition among disparate interests. In countries that have a parliament, political parties that have seats in parliament form a parliamentary party that consists of all their members of parliament. In parliamentary systems of government most political parties will also have an elected leader who, if the party is elected by absolute majority, or with a relative majority within the coalition where tradition is thus, becomes head of government. In presidential systems, the president may be elected as a representative of the party; however, in many nations the president is forced to relinquish connections with the party upon the assumption of office as head of state. In certain electoral situations a coalition government may be formed from members of more than one party. This is more common after elections using proportional representation rather than a "first past the post" system.