The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known simply as Labor or the Labor Party, is the major centre-left political party in Australia and one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party has been in government since the 2022 federal election, and with political branches active in all the Australian states and territories, they currently hold government in New South Wales, South Australia, Victoria, Western Australia, and the Australian Capital Territory. As of 2025, Queensland, Tasmania and Northern Territory are the only states or territories where Labor currently forms the opposition. It is the oldest continuous political party in Australian history, having been established on 8 May 1901 at Parliament House, Melbourne; the meeting place of the first Federal Parliament.
A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election. A party not having majority is common under proportional representation, but not in nations with majoritarian electoral systems.
The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which, by legislation and convention, operates as a unitary parliamentary democracy. A hereditary monarch, currently King Charles III, serves as head of state while the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, currently Sir Keir Starmer since 2024, serves as the head of the elected government.
The 1997 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 1 May 1997. The governing Conservative Party led by Prime Minister John Major was defeated in a landslide by the opposition Labour Party led by Tony Blair, achieving a 179-seat majority and a total of 419 seats.
The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of the Labour Party in 1945, with a majority of 144 seats and the first of two consecutive landslide victories.
A national unity government, government of national unity (GNU), or national union government is a broad coalition government consisting of all parties in the legislature, usually formed during a time of war or other national emergency. A unity government according to the principles of consensus democracy lacks opposition, or opposition parties are too small and negligible.
The 1935 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 14 November 1935. It resulted in a second landslide victory for the three-party National Government, which was led by Stanley Baldwin of the Conservative Party after the resignation of Ramsay MacDonald due to ill health earlier in the year. It is the most recent British general election to have seen any party or alliance of parties win a majority of the popular vote.
The 1931 United Kingdom general election was held on Tuesday, 27 October 1931. It saw a landslide election victory for the National Government, a three-party coalition which had been formed two months previously after the collapse of the second Labour government. Journalist Ivor Bulmer-Thomas described the result as "the most astonishing in the history of the British party system".
The 1923 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 December 1923. The Conservatives, led by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, won the most seats, but Labour, led by Ramsay MacDonald, and H. H. Asquith's reunited Liberal Party gained enough seats to produce a hung parliament. It is the most recent UK general election in which a third party won over 100 seats and the most narrow gap, of a "mere" 100 seats, between the first and third parties since. The Liberals' percentage of the vote, 29.7%, trailed Labour's by only one percentage point and has not been exceeded by a third party at any general election since.
The 1918 United Kingdom general election was called immediately after the Armistice with Germany which ended the First World War, and was held on Saturday, 14 December 1918. The governing coalition, under Prime Minister David Lloyd George, sent letters of endorsement to candidates who supported the coalition government. These were nicknamed "Coalition Coupons", and led to the election being known as the "coupon election". The result was a massive landslide in favour of the coalition, comprising primarily the Conservatives and Coalition Liberals, with massive losses for Liberals who were not endorsed. Nearly all the Liberal MPs without coupons were defeated, including party leader H. H. Asquith.
A political realignment is a set of sharp changes in party related ideology, issues, leaders, regional bases, demographic bases, and/or the structure of powers within a government. Often also referred to as a critical election, critical realignment, or realigning election, in the academic fields of political science and political history. These changes result in a restructuring of political focus and power that lasts for decades, usually replacing an older dominant coalition. Scholars frequently invoke the concept in American elections as this is where it is most common, though the experience also does occur in governments across the globe. It is generally accepted that the United States has had five distinct party systems, each featuring two major parties attracting a consistent political coalition and following a consistent party ideology, separated by four realignments. Two of the most apparent examples include the 1896 United States presidential election, when the issues of the American Civil War political system were replaced with those of the Populist and Progressive Era. As well as the 1932 United States presidential election, when the issues of the Populist and Progressive Eras were replaced by New Deal liberalism and modern conservatism. Realigning elections also contribute significantly to realigning party systems—with 1828, for example, separating the First Party System and the Second Party System in the US.
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition has an absolute majority of legislators in a parliament or other legislature. This situation is also known as a balanced parliament, or—for local government in the United Kingdom—a parliament under no overall control (NOC). A hung parliament may result in a coalition government, a minority government, or a snap election if a government cannot be formed.
An election promise or campaign promise is a promise or guarantee made to the public by a candidate or political party that is trying to win an election.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats is a liberal, federalist political party in Scotland, part of UK Liberal Democrats. The party holds 4 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament 6 of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons and 86 0f 1226 Local Councillors.
A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party.
In parliamentary democracies based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply is an arrangement under which a minority government receives the support of one or more parties or independent MPs on confidence votes and the state budget ("supply"). On issues other than those outlined in the confidence and supply agreement, non-government partners to the agreement are not bound to support the government on any given piece of legislation.
The Progressive Party of Saskatchewan was a provincial section of the Progressive Party of Canada, and was active from the beginning of the 1920s to the mid-1930s. The Progressives were an agrarian social democratic political movement. Dedicated to political and economic reform, the Progressive movement challenged economic policies that favoured the financial and industrial interests in Central Canada over agrarian and, to a lesser extent, labour interests. Like its federal counterpart, it favoured free trade over protectionism. The movement can be considered the first partisan expression of western alienation in Canada.
The Liberal Democrats are a liberal political party in the United Kingdom, founded in 1988. They are based at Liberal Democrat Headquarters, in Westminster, and the current leader of the party is Ed Davey. They are the third-largest party in the United Kingdom, with 72 members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons. They have 77 members of the House of Lords, four members of the Scottish Parliament, one member in the Welsh Senedd, and more than 3,000 local council seats. The party holds a twice-per-year Liberal Democrat Conference, at which party policy is formulated. In contrast to its main opponents' rules, the Liberal Democrats grant all members attending its Conference the right to vote on party policy, under a one member, one vote system. The party also allows its members to vote online for its policies and in the election of a new leader.
Progressive conservatism is a political ideology that attempts to combine conservative and progressive policies. While often still supportive of a capitalist economy, it stresses the importance of government intervention in order to improve human and environmental conditions.
The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 to elect 650 members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, won an unexpected majority victory of ten seats; they had been leading a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats. It was the last general election to be held before the UK voted to leave the European Union (EU) in June 2016.
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