Editing Two-party system (section)

==Latin America==
Most Latin American countries also have [[presidential systems]] very similar to the US often with [[Winner-Take-All Politics|winner takes all]] systems. Due to the common accumulation of power in the presidential office both the official party and the main opposition became important political protagonists causing historically two-party systems.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Coppedge|first1=Michael|title=The Dynamic Diversity of Latin American Party Systems|journal=Kellogg Institute, Hesburgh Center}}</ref> Some of the first manifestations of this particularity was with the [[Liberalism and conservatism in Latin America|liberals and conservatives]] that often fought for power in all Latin America causing the first two-party systems in most Latin American countries which often lead to civil wars in places like [[Colombia]], [[Ecuador]], [[Mexico]], [[Venezuela]], the [[Federal Republic of Central America|Central American Republic]] and [[Peru]], with fights focusing specially on opposing/defending the privileges of the [[Catholic Church]] and the [[Creole peoples|creole]] [[aristocracy]]. Other examples of primitive two-party systems included the [[Pelucones]] versus [[Pipiolos]] in [[Chile]], [[Federalist Party (Argentina)|Federalists]] versus [[Unitarian Party|Unitarians]] in [[Argentina]], [[Colorado Party (Paraguay)|Colorados]] versus [[Authentic Radical Liberal Party|Liberals]] in [[Paraguay]] and [[Colorado Party (Uruguay)|Colorados]] versus [[National Party (Uruguay)|Nationals]] in [[Uruguay]].<ref name="Constanza">{{cite journal|last1=Moreira|first1=Constanza|title=Party systems, political alternation and ideology in the south cone (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay)|journal=Revista Uruguaya de Ciencia Política|volume=2|issue=SE|date=2006|url=http://socialsciences.scielo.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0797-97892006000200001|access-date=24 January 2018|archive-date=24 January 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180124195717/http://socialsciences.scielo.org/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0797-97892006000200001|url-status=live}}</ref>

As in other regions, the original rivalry between liberals and conservatives was overtaken by a rivalry between [[center-left]] (often [[social-democratic]]) parties versus [[center-right]] [[liberal conservative]] parties, focusing more in economic differences than in cultural and religious differences as it was common during the liberal versus conservative period. Examples of this include [[National Liberation Party (Costa Rica)|National Liberation Party]] versus [[Social Christian Unity Party]] in [[Costa Rica]], the [[peronista]] [[Justicialist Party]] versus [[Radical Civic Union]] in [[Argentina]], [[Democratic Action (Venezuela)|Democratic Action]] versus [[COPEI]] in [[Venezuela]], the [[Colombian Liberal Party]] versus the [[Colombian Conservative Party]] in Colombia, [[Democratic Revolutionary Party]] versus [[Panameñista Party]] in [[Panama]] and [[Liberal Party of Honduras|Liberal Party]] versus [[National Party of Honduras|National Party]] in [[Honduras]].<ref name="Angell">{{cite journal|last1=Angell|first1=Alan|title=Party Systems in Latin America |journal=Political Quarterly|volume=37|issue=3|pages=309–323|date=July 1966|doi=10.1111/j.1467-923X.1966.tb00224.x}}</ref>  After the democratization of Central America following the end of the [[Central American crisis]] in the 1990s former [[far-left]] [[guerrillas]] and former [[right-wing]] authoritarian parties, now in peace, make some similar two-party systems in countries like [[Nicaragua]] between the [[Sandinista National Liberation Front]] and the [[Liberalism in Nicaragua|Liberals]] and in [[El Salvador]] between the [[Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front]] and the [[Nationalist Republican Alliance]].

The traditional two-party dynamic started to break after a while, especially in the early 2000s; alternative parties won elections breaking the traditional two-party systems including [[Rafael Caldera]]'s ([[National Convergence (Venezuela)|National Convergence]]) [[1993 Venezuelan general election|victory]] in [[Venezuela]] in 1993, [[Álvaro Uribe]] ([[Colombia First]]) [[2002 Colombian presidential election|victory]] in 2002, [[Tabaré Vázquez]] ([[Broad Front (Uruguay)|Broad Front]]) [[2004 Uruguayan general election|victory]] in [[Uruguay]] in 2004, [[Fernando Lugo]] ([[Christian Democratic Party (Paraguay)|Christian Democratic Party]]) [[2008 Paraguayan general election|victory]] in [[Paraguay]] in 2008, [[Ricardo Martinelli]] ([[Democratic Change (Panama)|Democratic Change]]) [[2009 Panamanian general election|victory]] in 2009 in [[Panama]], [[Luis Guillermo Solís]] ([[Citizens' Action Party (Costa Rica)|Citizens' Action Party]]) [[2014 Costa Rican general election|victory]] in 2014 in [[Costa Rica]], [[Mauricio Macri]] ([[Republican Proposal]]) [[2015 Argentine general election|victory]] in 2015 in [[Argentina]], [[Nayib Bukele]] ([[Grand Alliance for National Unity]]) [[2019 Salvadoran presidential election|victory]] in 2019 in [[El Salvador]], and [[Gabriel Boric]] ([[Apruebo Dignidad|Approve Dignity]]) [[2021 Chilean general election|victory]] in 2021 in [[Chile]], all of them from non-traditional [[third party (politics)|third parties]] in their respective countries.<ref name="Angell" /> In some countries like Argentina, Chile and Venezuela the political system is now split in two large multi-party alliances or blocs, one on the left and one on the right of the spectrum,<ref name="Constanza" /> such as [[Frente de Todos]] versus [[Juntos por el Cambio]] in Argentina, and the [[Unitary Platform]] versus [[Great Patriotic Pole]] in Venezuela.

=== Brazil ===
{{Main|Political parties in Brazil}}
During the [[Empire of Brazil|imperial period]], since 1840, two great parties with a national base alternated its dominance between legislatures: the [[Liberal Party (Brazil, 1831)|Liberal]] and the [[Conservative Party (Brazil)|Conservative]]. These parties were dissolved in 1889, after the republic was instituted in Brazil, in which the registration of party directories came under the jurisdiction of the states.

[[Brazil]] also had a two-party system for most of [[Brazilian military government|its military dictatorship]] (1964–1985): on October 27, 1965, the Institutional Act 2 decree<ref>{{cite web |title=AIT-02-65 |url=http://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/ait/ait-02-65.htm |website=www.planalto.gov.br}}</ref> banned all existing parties and conditioned the creation of new parties to the quorum of 1/3 of the then-elected National Congress; resulting in the creation of two parties: a pro-government party, the [[National Renewal Alliance]] (ARENA) and an opposition party, the [[Brazilian Democratic Movement]] (MDB). Despite officially having a bipartisan system, complex electoral mechanisms, nominally neutral, were created to guarantee the prevalence of the ARENA in the [[National Congress of Brazil|National Congress]], making Brazil, in practice, a [[dominant-party system]] in that period. The two parties were dissolved in 1979, when the regime allowed other parties to form.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Brazil/Political-parties |title=Brazil – Political parties |last1=Martins |first1=Luciano |last2=Schneider |first2=Ronald Milton |author-link2=Ronald Schneider (historian) |website=[[britannica.com]] |access-date=23 September 2017 |archive-date=24 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170924002247/https://www.britannica.com/place/Brazil/Political-parties |url-status=live }}</ref>