Major party

A major party is a political party that holds substantial influence in a country's politics, standing in contrast to a minor party. It should not be confused with majority party.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

Major party: a political party having electoral strength sufficient to permit it to win control of a government usually with comparative regularity and when defeated to constitute the principal opposition to the party in power.

— Merriam-Webster Dictionary online

Major parties hold a significant percentage of the vote in elections and claim higher membership than minor parties. Typically, major parties have the most donors, best-organized support networks and excellent funding for elections. Their candidates for political positions are closely watched since they have the highest chance of being elected to office because of the high membership, recognition and donations that these parties are able to generate.

Two major parties can lead to a two-party system. If there is only one major party, then it is a dominant-party system. In a multi-party system, a major party is one that occasionally controls the presidency or premiership and is the most influential party in a coalition government.

List of major parties

Country	Centre-left/Left-wing major party	Centre-right/Right-wing major party	Liberal major party	Other major parties	Notes
Abkhazia	Forum for the National Unity of Abkhazia	United Abkhazia
Albania	Socialist Party of Albania	Democratic Party of Albania
Algeria	National Liberation Front	National Rally for Democracy
Andorra	Social Democratic Party	Democrats for Andorra	Liberal Party of Andorra
Angola	MPLA	UNITA
Antigua and Barbuda	Antigua Labour Party			United Progressive Party
Argentina	Front for Victory - Justicialist Party (Left-wing Peronism)	United for a New Alternative (Centre-right Peronism)	Cambiemos (Coalition of Republican Proposal and Radical Civic Union)		The Justicialist Party has produced both leftist and rightist presidents; Néstor Kirchner (2003–2007) and Cristina Fernández (2007–2015) were leftist, while fellow Justicialist Carlos Menem (1989–1999) was seen as neoliberal.
Armenia	Armenian Revolutionary Federation	Prosperous Armenia		Republican Party of Armenia
Aruba	People's Electoral Movement	Aruban People's Party
Australia	Australian Labor Party	Coalition (Liberal / National / Liberal National Party of Queensland)
Austria	Social Democratic Party of Austria	Austrian People's Party		Freedom Party of Austria
Azerbaijan		New Azerbaijan Party
The Bahamas	Progressive Liberal Party	Free National Movement
Bangladesh	Bangladesh Awami League	Bangladesh Nationalist Party	Jatiya Party
Barbados	Barbados Labour Party	Democratic Labour Party
Belarus	Communist Party of Belarus			Belaya Rus
Belgium (Dutch-speaking)	Different Socialist Party	New Flemish Alliance	Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats	Christian Democratic and Flemish
Belgium (French-speaking)	Socialist Party	Humanist Democratic Centre	Reformist Movement
Belgium (German-speaking)	Socialist Party	Christian Social Party	Party for Freedom and Progress
Belize	People's United Party	United Democratic Party
Benin	Union Makes the Nation	Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin
Bolivia	Movement for Socialism	National Unity Front
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Alliance of Independent Social Democrats	Party of Democratic Action
Botswana	Botswana National Front	Botswana Democratic Party
Brazil	Workers' Party	Change Brazil (coalition betwenn Brazilian Social Democracy Party and Democrats)	Progressive Party	Brazilian Democratic Movement Party	Despite PSDB being a centre to centre-left party, the party is in a alliance with Democrats since 1994 in a national level and in the majority of states. Democrats and its predecessor, Liberal Front Party were the main party of the Brazilian right-wing since his inception, in 1985, until 2011.
Bulgaria	Bulgarian Socialist Party	Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria
Burkina Faso	People's Movement for Progress	Union for Progress and Reform		Congress for Democracy and Progress
Cambodia	Cambodian People's Party	Cambodia National Rescue Party
Canada	New Democratic Party	Conservative Party of Canada	Liberal Party of Canada	Bloc Québécois
Cape Verde	African Party for the Independence of Cape Verde	Movement for Democracy
Cayman Islands	People's Progressive Movement	United Democratic Party
Central Africa	Central African Democratic Rally	National Union for Democracy and Progress		Union for Central African Renewal
Chad			Patriotic Salvation Movement
Chile	Socialist Party of Chile	Independent Democratic Union	National Renewal	Christian Democratic Party	The Socialist Party of Chile and the Christian Democratic Party are the current leaders of the centre-left coalition New Majority, and the Independent Democratic Union is the current leader of the centre-right coalition Chile Vamos with National Renewal
Colombia	Colombian Liberal Party	Colombian Conservative Party	Social Party of National Unity	Democratic Center
Costa Rica	Citizens' Action Party (PAC)	Social Christian Unity Party	National Liberation Party (PLN)	Broad Front	PLN defines itself as "centrist" but is generally considered to be more right-wing than PAC.
Croatia	Social Democratic Party of Croatia	Croatian Democratic Union	Bridge of Independent Lists
Curaçao	Partido MAN	Movement for the Future of Curaçao	Party for the Restructured Antilles
Czech Republic	Czech Social Democratic Party	Civic Democratic Party TOP 09	ANO 2011	Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia
Cyprus	Progressive Party of Working People	Democratic Rally
Democratic Republic of the Congo	People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy	Movement for the Liberation of the Congo	Union for Democracy and Social Progress
Denmark	Social Democrats	Danish People's Party	Venstre
Djibouti	People's Rally for Progress	Movement for Democratic Renewal and Development
Dominica	Dominica Labour Party			United Workers' Party
East Timor	National Congress for Timorese Reconstruction			Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor
Ecuador	PAIS Alliance	Creating Opportunities
Egypt		Free Egyptians Party		Nation's Future Party
El Salvador	Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front	Nationalist Republican Alliance		Unity Movement
Equatorial Guinea				Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea	People's Front for Democracy and Justice
Estonia	Estonian Centre Party	Estonian Reform Party
Ethiopia	Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front
European Union	Party of European Socialists	European People's Party	Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party	Alliance of Conservatives and Reformists in Europe
Faroe Islands	Republic Social Democratic Party	Union Party People's Party
Finland	Social Democratic Party of Finland	National Coalition Party	Centre Party	Finns Party
France	Socialist Party	The Republicans	En Marche!	National Front
Gabon		Gabonese Democratic Party
Gambia	United Democratic Party	Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction
Georgia	Georgian Dream	United National Movement
Germany	Social Democratic Party of Germany	CDU/CSU (Union of Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union)	Free Democratic Party	Alliance '90/The Greens The Left Alternative for Germany	The Free Democratic Party was a major party, having been in coalition with the ruling parties for most of the post-war era. However, the party failed to meet the election threshold at the German federal election, 2013 and is not currently represented in the Bundestag.
Ghana	National Democratic Congress	New Patriotic Party
Gibraltar	Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party	Gibraltar Social Democrats	Liberal Party of Gibraltar
Greece	Coalition of the Radical Left (Syriza)	New Democracy		Golden Dawn	Until the 2012 legislative election, Pasok was the major party of the centre-left.
Grenada	National Democratic Congress	New National Party
Guatemala	National Unity of Hope	Renewed Democratic Liberty	Patriotic Party	National Convergence Front
Guinea	Guinean People's Assembly	Union of Democratic Forces of Guinea
Guinea-Bissau	African Party for the Independence of Guinea and Cape Verde			Party for Social Renewal
Guyana	People's Progressive Party			A Partnership for National Unity
Haiti	Fanmi Lavalas	Haitian Tèt Kale Party		Truth
Hong Kong	Pan-democracy camp Democratic Party is the largest party.	Pro-Beijing camp DAB is the largest party.
Hungary	Hungarian Socialist Party	Fidesz – Hungarian Civic Union		Jobbik
Iceland	Left-Green Movement	Independence Party	Progressive Party	Pirate Party
India	Indian National Congress	Bharatiya Janata Party
Indonesia	Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle	Golkar Party		Gerindra Party and Democratic Party
Ireland	Sinn Féin	Fine Gael	Fianna Fáil	Labour Party	Fianna Fáil received the largest share of the vote in Ireland from 1932 to 2011, when it was returned in third place with just 17.4% of the vote. The Labour Party was for most of Ireland's existence the largest centre-left party in Ireland. The government it led with Fine Gael was unpopular, and the party's votes went from 19.4% to 6.6%. The President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, is still a member.
Israel	Israeli Labor Party	Likud
Iran	Reformists	Principlists
Italy	Democratic Party	Forza Italia		Five Star Movement Lega Nord	Until 1992 the major party was Christian Democracy, which had been in government for five decades; the second party was the Italian Communist Party.
Ivory Coast	Ivorian Popular Front	Democratic Party of Côte d'Ivoire – African Democratic Rally	Rally of the Republicans	Union for Democracy and Peace in Côte d'Ivoire
Japan	Democratic Party	Liberal Democratic Party		Japanese Communist Party New Komeito
Jamaica	People's National Party	Jamaica Labour Party
Kazakhstan				Nur Otan
Kenya	Orange Democratic Movement	The National Alliance
Kyrgyzstan	Social Democratic Party of Kyrgyzstan	Ata-Zhurt
Kosovo	Vetëvendosje	Democratic League of Kosovo		Democratic Party of Kosovo
Latvia	Social Democratic Party "Harmony"	Unity	Union of Greens and Farmers	National Alliance
Lesotho	Democratic Congress	All Basotho Convention
Liberia	Congress for Democratic Change	Unity Party
Liechtenstein	Free List	Progressive Citizens' Party	Patriotic Union	The Independents
Lithuania	Lithuanian Social Democratic Party	Homeland Union	Liberal Movement	Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union
Luxembourg	Luxembourg Socialist Workers' Party	Christian Social People's Party	Democratic Party
Macedonia	Social Democratic Union of Macedonia	VMRO-DPMNE
Malaysia	Pakatan Rakyat	Barisan Nasional
Malawi		Malawi Congress Party	Democratic Progressive Party
Maldives		Progressive Party of Maldives	Maldivian Democratic Party
Malta	Labour Party	Nationalist Party
Mexico	Party of the Democratic Revolution	National Action Party		Institutional Revolutionary Party	PRI was founded in 1929 as a left-of-centre party and stayed in the power from his inception until 2000. However, despite being a member of Socialist International, its left-wing character is questionable. The party is labeled as a catch-all ""Party of Power".
Monaco		Rally & Issues	Union Monégasque
Moldova	Party of Socialists of the Republic of Moldova	Liberal Democratic Party of Moldova	Coaltion between the Democratic Party of Moldova and the Liberal Party of Moldova	Party of Communists of the Republic of Moldova
Mongolia	Mongolian People's Party	Democratic Party
Montenegro	Democratic Party of Socialists	Democratic Front
Mozambique	FRELIMO	RENAMO
Morocco		Justice and Development Party		Istiqlal Party Authenticity and Modernity Party
Myanmar	National League for Democracy	Union Solidarity and Development Party			The military of Myanmar appoints 25% of the seats in the Assembly of the Union, the legislature in Myanmar.
Nagorno Karabakh	Armenian Revolutionary Federation	Free Motherland		Democratic Party of Artsakh
Namibia	SWAPO
Nepal	Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist–Leninist)			Nepali Congress Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist)
Netherlands	Socialist Party	People's Party for Freedom and Democracy	Democrats 66	Christian Democratic Appeal Party for Freedom	Labour Party was the major left-wing party since his inception until 2017 Dutch election
New Zealand	Labour Party	National Party		New Zealand Green Party New Zealand First
Nicaragua	Sandinista National Liberation Front	Constitutionalist Liberal Party	Independent Liberal Party
Niger	Nigerien Party for Democracy and Socialism	National Movement for the Development of Society		Nigerien Democratic Movement for an African Federation
Nigeria	All Progressives Congress	People's Democratic Party
Northern Cyprus	Republican Turkish Party	National Unity Party
Norway	Labour Party	Conservative Party	Progress Party	Christian People's Party Centre Party
Pakistan	Pakistan People's Party	Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz)	Muttahida Qaumi Movement	Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf
Paraguay	Frente Guasú	Colorado Party	Authentic Radical Liberal Party
Peru	Broad Front	Popular Force	Peruvians for Change
Philippines	PDP-Laban	Nationalist People's Coalition	Liberal Party
Puerto Rico	Popular Democratic Party	New Progressive Party			Puerto Rico is the only territory within the jurisdiction of USA with different major parties from the rest of the USA.
Poland	Democratic Left Alliance	Law and Justice	Modern	Civic Platform	Democratic Left Alliance is currently only represented in European parliament.
Portugal	Socialist Party	Social Democratic Party
Republic of China (Taiwan)	Democratic Progressive Party	Kuomintang (Nationalist Party of China)	New Power Party	People First Party
Romania	Social Democratic Party	National Liberal Party
Russia	Communist Party of Russia	United Russia	Civic Platform	A Just Russia Liberal Democratic Party of Russia
Rwanda	Social Democratic Party	Rwandan Patriotic Front
Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic	Polisario Front
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Unity Labour Party	New Democratic Party
San Marino	United Left	Sammarinese Christian Democratic Party	RETE Movement
São Tomé and Príncipe	Movement for the Liberation of São Tomé and Príncipe/Social Democratic Party	Independent Democratic Action
Serbia	Socialist Party of Serbia	Serbian Progressive Party	Democratic Party (Serbia)	Serbian Radical Party
Seychelles	People's Party	Seychelles National Party
Senegal		Senegalese Democratic Party	Alliance for the Republic
Sierra Leone	All People's Congress		Sierra Leone People's Party
Singapore	Workers' Party of Singapore	People's Action Party
Slovakia	Direction – Social Democracy	Freedom and Solidarity
Slovenia	Modern Centre Party	Slovenian Democratic Party
Somaliland	For Justice and Development		Peace, Unity, and Development Party
South Africa	African National Congress	Democratic Alliance
South Korea	Minjoo Party of Korea (Democratic Party)	Liberty Korea Party	People's Party
South Ossetia	Socialist Party "Unity of the People"	United Ossetia			Unity Party and Communist Party of South Ossetia were major parties before 2014 election
Spain	Spanish Socialist Workers' Party	People's Party	Citizens	Podemos Republican Left of Catalonia (major left-wing party in Catalonia) Catalan European Democratic Party (major liberal party in Catalonia) Basque Nationalist Party (major party in Basque) Canarian Coalition (major party in the Canary Islands)
Sri-Lanka	United People's Freedom Alliance	United National Party		Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna & Tamil National Alliance
Palestine	Palestine Liberation Organization Fatah is the largest party.	Hamas
Sudan		National Congress
Suriname	National Democratic Party	Progressive Reform Party
Sweden	Swedish Social Democratic Labour Party	Moderate Party	Centre Party Liberals	Sweden Democrats	Moderate Party lead the Centre-right Alliance, along with the Centre Party, the Liberals and the Christian Democratic Coalition
Switzerland	Social Democratic Party of Switzerland	Swiss People's Party	FDP.The Liberals	Christian Democratic People's Party of Switzerland	The magic formula system means that these parties are guaranteed representation in the Swiss Federal Council
Tajikistan			People's Democratic Party of Tajikistan
Thailand		Pheu Thai Party	Democrat Party
Togo	Save Togo Collective			Union for the Republic
Transnistria		Renewal
Trinidad and Tobago	United National Congress	People's National Movement
Tunisia	Nidaa Tounes	Ennahda Movement
Turkey	Republican People's Party	Justice and Development Party
Ukraine	Opposition Bloc	Petro Poroshenko Bloc "Solidarity"	People's Front
United Kingdom (Great Britain)	Labour Party	Conservative Party	Liberal Democrats	United Kingdom Independence Party (major party in European Parliament) Scottish National Party (major party in Scotland, third party in the House of Commons) Plaid Cymru (major party in Wales)	From the 17th through mid-19th century, the Whigs and the Tories were the major parties. From 1859 to 1922, Liberal Party and Conservative Party were the major parties. Liberal Party is succeeded by the Liberal Democrats. Nationalist movements have major party status within the Home Nations of the UK.
United Kingdom (Northern Ireland)	Sinn Féin (republican)	Democratic Unionist Party (unionist)	Alliance Party (non-sectarian)	Social Democratic and Labour Party (republican) Ulster Unionist Party (unionist)	Despite being part of the UK, the main parties in Northern Ireland differ from those in Great Britain. Sinn Féin does not take its seats in the House of Commons.
United States	Democratic Party	Republican Party			At various times during the 18th and 19th centuries, the Federalist Party, Democratic-Republican Party, National Republican Party, and Whig Party were all major.
Uruguay	Broad Front	National Party	Colorado Party
Uzbekistan	People's Democratic Party of Uzbekistan	Uzbekistan National Revival Democratic Party	Uzbekistan Liberal Democratic Party
Venezuela	United Socialist Party of Venezuela	Justice First		Democratic Action A New Era
Yemen		Al-Islah (Yemeni Congregation For Reform)		General People's Congress
Zambia	Patriotic Front	United Party for National Development
Zimbabwe	Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front			Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai

See also

• Minor party