[troutman]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Just curious, but is that how it is done in other countries where coalitions are the norm? It's hard to imagine that it is as any party that openly campaigns for a coalition is pretty much admitting that they don't think they can win a majority. It seems like a self-defeating strategy.

As mentioned previously in this thread, people don't elect governments; they elect parliaments, and the parliament we elect chooses how to form the government. A government led by a minority party is no more or less democratic than one led by a coalition. Unless the argument is simply that the leaders were not forthcoming about it before the election, in which case I don't think there has ever been a democratically eleced leader ever.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multi-party

A two-party system requires voters to align themselves in large blocs, sometimes so large that they cannot agree on any overarching principles. Along this line of thought, some theories argue that this allows centrists to gain control. On the other hand, if there are multiple major parties, each with less than a majority of the vote, the parties are forced to work together to form working governments. This also promotes a form of centrism.

Canada is an example of where there may be a multi-party system but that only two parties have formed government. Germany, India, France, and Israel are examples of nations that have used a multi-party system effectively in their democracies (though in each case there are two parties larger than all others, even though most of the time no party has a parliamentary majority by itself). In these nations, multiple political parties have often formed coalitions for the purpose of developing power blocs for governing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalition_government

Countries which often operate with coalition cabinets include: the Nordic countries, the Benelux countries, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Turkey, Israel, Pakistan and India. Switzerland has been ruled by a loose coalition of the four strongest parties in parliament since 1959, called the "Magic Formula".