Editing Dominant-party system (section)

==Theory==
Dominant-party systems are commonly based on [[majority rule]] for [[proportional representation]] or [[Majority bonus system|majority boosting]] in [[semi-proportional representation]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} [[Plurality voting]] systems can result in large majorities for a party with a lower percentage of the vote than in proportional representation systems due to a fractured opposition (resulting in [[wasted vote]]s and a lower number of parties entering the legislature) and [[gerrymandering]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

Critics of the "dominant party" theory argue that it views the meaning of democracy as given, and that it assumes that only a particular conception of [[representative democracy]] (in which different parties alternate frequently in power) is valid.<ref name="Suttner">[[Raymond Suttner|Suttner, R.]] (2006), "Party dominance 'theory': Of what value?", ''Politikon'' 33 (3), pp. 277–297</ref> [[Raymond Suttner]], himself a former leader in the [[African National Congress]] (ANC), argues that "the dominant party 'system' is deeply flawed as a mode of analysis and lacks explanatory capacity. But it is also a very conservative approach to politics. Its fundamental political assumptions are restricted to one form of democracy, namely electoral politics, and display hostility towards popular politics. This is manifest in the obsession with the quality of electoral opposition, and its sidelining or ignoring of popular political activity organised in other ways. The assumption in this approach is that other forms of organisation and opposition are of limited importance or a separate matter from the consolidation of their version of democracy."<ref name=Suttner/>{{Primary source inline|date=April 2024}}{{Long quote|date=April 2024}}

One of the dangers of dominant parties is "the tendency of dominant parties to conflate party and state and to appoint party officials to senior positions irrespective of their having the required qualities."<ref name=Suttner/> However, in some countries this is common practice even when there is no dominant party.<ref name=Suttner/> In contrast to [[One-party state|one-party system]]s, dominant-party systems can occur within a context of a democratic system as well as an authoritarian one.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} In a one-party system other parties are banned, but in dominant-party systems other political parties are tolerated, and (in democratic dominant-party systems) operate without overt legal impediment, but do not have a realistic chance of winning; the dominant party genuinely wins the votes of the vast majority of voters every time (or, in authoritarian systems, claims to).{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} Under authoritarian dominant-party systems, which may be referred to as "[[electoralism]]" or "soft authoritarianism", [[Parliamentary Opposition|opposition]] parties are legally allowed to operate, but are too weak or ineffective to seriously challenge power, perhaps through various forms of corruption, constitutional quirks that intentionally undermine the ability for an effective opposition to thrive, institutional and/or organizational conventions that support the status quo, occasional but not omnipresent [[political repression]], or inherent cultural values averse to change.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

In some states opposition parties are subject to varying degrees of official harassment and most often deal with restrictions on free speech (such as press laws), lawsuits against the opposition, and rules or electoral systems (such as [[gerrymandering]] of electoral districts) designed to put them at a disadvantage.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} In some cases outright [[electoral fraud]] keeps the opposition from power.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} However, some dominant-party systems occur, at least temporarily, in countries that are widely seen, both by their citizens and outside observers, to be textbook examples of democracy.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} An example of a genuine democratic dominant-party system would be the pre-[[The Emergency (India)|Emergency]] India, which was almost universally viewed by all as being a democratic state, even though the only major national party at that time was the [[Indian National Congress]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} The reasons why a dominant-party system may form in such a country are often debated: supporters of the dominant party tend to argue that their party is simply doing a good job in government and the opposition continuously proposes unrealistic or unpopular changes, while supporters of the opposition tend to argue that the electoral system disfavors them (for example because it is based on the principle of [[first past the post]]), or that the dominant party receives a disproportionate amount of funding from various sources and is therefore able to mount more persuasive campaigns.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} In states with ethnic issues, one party may be seen as being the party for an ethnicity or race with the party for the majority ethnic, racial or religious group dominating, e.g., the [[African National Congress]] in [[South Africa]] (governing since the end of [[apartheid]] in 1994) has strong support amongst [[Bantu peoples of South Africa]] and the [[Ulster Unionist Party]] governed [[Northern Ireland]] from its creation in 1921 until 1972 with the support of the [[Protestant]] majority.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} Similarly, the Apartheid-era [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] in South Africa had the support of [[Afrikaners]] who make up the majority of [[White South Africans]] while English-speaking white South Africans tended towards more liberal and reform-oriented parties like the [[Progressive Federal Party]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

[[Subnational entities|Sub-national entities]] are often dominated by one party due to the area's demographic being on one end of the spectrum or espousing a unique local identity.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}} For example, the current elected [[Government of the District of Columbia|government]] of the [[District of Columbia]] has been governed by [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] since its creation in the 1970s, [[Bavaria]] by the [[Christian Social Union of Bavaria|Christian Social Union]] since 1957, [[Madeira Islands|Madeira]] by the [[Partido Social Democrata (Portugal)|Social Democrats]] since 1976, and [[Alberta]] by the [[Alberta Progressive Conservative Party|Progressive Conservatives]] from 1971 to 2015. On the other hand, where the dominant party rules nationally on a genuinely democratic basis, the opposition may be strong in one or more subnational areas, possibly even constituting a dominant party locally; an example is South Africa, where although the African National Congress is dominant at the national level, the opposition [[Democratic Alliance (South Africa)|Democratic Alliance]] is strong to dominant in the [[Western Cape|Province of Western Cape]].{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}