Editing Two-party system (section)

== Europe ==
=== Malta ===
{{Main|Politics of Malta}}
[[Politics of Malta|Malta]] is somewhat unusual in that while the electoral system is [[single transferable vote]] (STV), a form with proportional representation traditionally associated with a multi-party system, minor parties have not had much success. Politics is dominated between the centre-left [[Labour Party (Malta)|Labour Party]] and the centre-right [[Nationalist Party (Malta)|Nationalist Party]], with no third parties winning seats in Parliament between [[1962 Maltese general election|1962]] and [[2017 Maltese general election|2017]] and since 2022.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Borg |first1=Bertrand |date=6 June 2017 |title=Marlene Farrugia's election met with counting hall taunts |url=https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20170606/local/marlene-farrugia-elected-on-10th-district.650090 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180924175547/https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20170606/local/marlene-farrugia-elected-on-10th-district.650090 |archive-date=24 September 2018 |access-date=9 June 2017 |work=Times of Malta |quote=Malta's next legislature will feature an elected third party representative for the first time in more than 50 years, with Democratic Party leader Marlene Farrugia having made it into parliament.}}</ref>
<!--===Russia ===
Post-Soviet Russia was close to having a competitive two-party system in 1999 when two "[[party of power|parties of power]]" (specifically, socio-political associations and [[parliamentary group|parliamentary factions]]) were formed in the [[3rd State Duma]] – [[Unity (Russian political party)|Unity]] and [[Fatherland – All Russia]]. However, by the end of 2001, both had united into one pro-presidential party – [[United Russia]].

On 24 March 2006, a meeting was held between the [[:ru:Заместитель руководителя Администрации президента России|deputy head of the presidential administration]], [[Vladislav Surkov]], and the chairman of the [[Russian Party of Life]], [[Sergey Mironov]], and 30 deputies from the Russian Party of Life. At the meeting, Surkov first openly formulated the idea of building a two-party system in the country, in which, depending on the circumstances, the Kremlin could rely on one of the two system-forming parties.<ref name="kommersant">«Коммерсант»: [http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/697936 ''«Стенограмма-минимум. Партия жизни обнародовала инструкции Владислава Суркова»''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110527051012/http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/697936|date=20110527051012}}, № 150 (3481), 16.08.2006.</ref> Surkov described the problem as follows: "Society does not have a "second leg" that it can shift to when the first one goes numb. Russia needs a second major party," which, according to the [[Presidential Administration of Russia|presidential administration]]'s plan, should, in the future, gain the votes that are currently collected by parties "of a [[left-wing politics|leftist bias]] and with a strong [[Russian nationalism|nationalist]] flavor." At the same time, Surkov left the role of the "main leg" for the coming years to United Russia: "The largest party, around which the political process will be built for a considerable time, in my opinion, of course, should be United Russia." Vladislav Surkov advised Russian Party of Life activists to rely on the protest electorate rather than on administrative resources: "It is better that this [protest] electorate, which is opposed to all types of administration, will be attracted to you than to destructive forces." A transcript of the meeting was published on 16 August 2006.<ref name="kommersant" /><ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070707165914/http://rpvita.ru/activity/opinion/5009.html ''«Встреча группы депутатов от Российской партии Жизни с заместителем Руководителя Администрации Президента Российской Федерации — помощником Президента Российской Федерации В. Ю. Сурковым»'', 24 марта 2006 года], стенограмма опубликована на сайте партии 16.08.2006.</ref>

The [[A Just Russia]] party, which emerged in 2006, with some support from President [[Vladimir Putin]], positioned itself as a competitor to United Russia within the framework of a potential two-party system.

However, as a result of the fact that during the [[2007 Russian legislative election|Duma elections of 2007]], Putin politically headed the United Russia party, which won an absolute victory in the elections, by the end of 2007, a [[dominant-party system]] had emerged in Russia, in which United Russia has a [[supermajority|constitutional qualified majority]] in the Duma.-->
<!--Russia is not a two-party system-->

=== Spain ===
{{Main|Political parties in Spain}}
A report in ''[[The Christian Science Monitor]]'' in 2008 suggested that [[Spain]] was moving toward a "greater two-party system" while acknowledging that Spain has many small parties.<ref name="twsNovGb">{{cite news |author=Robert Marquand |date=March 11, 2008 |title=In Spain's elections, Socialists win with liberal appeal |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2008/0311/p07s03-wogn.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101107105432/http://www.csmonitor.com/World/2008/0311/p07s03-wogn.html |archive-date=2010-11-07 |access-date=2010-11-07 |newspaper=Christian Science Monitor |quote=The outcome also suggests that Spain, which has many small parties, is moving toward a greater two-party system – even as basic splits between right and left are deepening and becoming more contentious.}}</ref> A 2015 article published by ''[[WashingtonPost.com]]'' written by academic Fernando Casal Bértoa noted the decline in support for the two main parties, the [[People's Party (Spain)|People's Party]] (PP) and the [[Spanish Socialist Workers' Party]] (PSOE) in recent years, with these two parties winning only 52 percent of the votes in that year's [[2015 Spanish regional elections|regional]] and [[2015 Spanish local elections|local]] elections. He explained this as being due to the [[2008–16 Spanish financial crisis|Spanish economic crisis]], a series of [[Corruption in Spain#Corruption cases in the post-Franco era|political corruption scandals]] and broken campaign promises. He argued that the emergence of the new [[Citizens (Spanish political party)|Citizens]] and [[Podemos (Spanish political party)|Podemos]] parties would mean the political system would evolve into a two-bloc system, with an alliance of the PP and Citizens on the right facing a leftist coalition of PSOE, Podemos and the [[United Left (Spain)|United Left]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Casal Bértoa |first=Fernando |date=19 June 2015 |title=Shake-up in Spain: Reform parties have broken the old two-party cartel |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/06/19/shake-up-in-spain-reform-parties-have-broken-the-old-two-party-cartel/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170929001131/https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2015/06/19/shake-up-in-spain-reform-parties-have-broken-the-old-two-party-cartel/ |archive-date=29 September 2017 |access-date=23 September 2017 |website=WashingtonPost.com}}</ref> Far-right [[Vox (political party)|Vox]] party became the third largest group in the Spanish parliament in the late 2010s.
=== United Kingdom ===
In countries such as [[Politics of the United Kingdom|Britain]], two major parties which have strong influence emerge and tend to elect most of the candidates, but a multitude of lesser parties exist with varying degrees of influence, and sometimes these lesser parties are able to elect officials who participate in the legislature. In political systems based on the [[Westminster system]], which is a particular style of [[Parliamentary system|parliamentary democracy]] based on the British model and found in many [[British Commonwealth|Commonwealth]] countries, a majority party will form the [[government]] and the minority party will form the [[opposition (politics)|opposition]], and coalitions of lesser parties are possible; in the rare circumstance in which neither party is the majority, a [[hung parliament]] arises. Sometimes these systems are described as ''two-party systems'', but they are usually referred to as ''multi-party'' systems or a ''two-party plus'' system. There is not always a sharp boundary between a two-party system and a multi-party system.