With bipartisanship, two majority parties compete for power.
The political structure in which two majority parties compete for power is known as bipartisanship . This type of system causes minority parties to be excluded.
With two-party system, one party enters the government by obtaining the majority of the votes, while another party becomes the official opposition by reaching second place in voters' preferences. The rest of the parties, on the other hand, are left without legislative representation or with very limited representation.
Characteristics of bipartisanship
The existence of the two-party system means that the two main political coalitions receive all the attention of the media and monopolize the political debate. As a consequence, other political expressions do not get space to spread their ideas and communicate their proposals. By extension, at election time, the smaller parties receive few votes and thus the two-party system is perpetuated.
Generally, bipartisanship opposes two antagonistic political positions , such as liberals against conservatives or left against right. In any case, it is currently common for party ideologies to not be so strict and for all coalitions to end up competing for the same voter.
The bipartisanship in the United States is very marked.
The case of Spain
In Spain , for example, there has been a clear two-party system until a few years ago when the political landscape seems to have changed. Specifically, since the Transition until approximately 2016 , it can be said that bipartisanship has existed in the country since two parties have alternated power:
– The Spanish Socialist Workers Party ( PSOE ), which has been at the head of the country's government through two presidents of the government. One has been the Sevillian Felipe González (1982 – 1996) and the other has been the León-based José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero , who was in power between 2004 and 2011.
– The Popular Party ( PP ) that has also led the country on two occasions. Firstly, with José María Aznar from Valladolid, between 1996 and 2004, and Galician Mariano Rajoy , president from 2011 to 2018.
However, as we have mentioned, in 2016 the two-party system ended in the country. And new parties emerged on the scene that gained the support of citizens at the polls. Specifically, these were new political formations, some of which already began to be noticed in 2014 . This would be the case of Podemos , whose leader is Pablo Iglesias .
In the same way, we must also highlight Ciudadanos , whose leader is Albert Rivera .
Bipartisanship in the United States
Another example of bipartisanship is found in the United States . There the Republican Party and the Democratic Party succeed one another in power.
In the 2012 presidential elections, to cite one case, the candidate of the Democratic Party ( Barack Obama ) obtained 51.07% of the votes, while the candidate of the Republican Party ( Mitt Romney ) reached 47.21% . On the other hand, none of the minority party candidates reached 1% , evidencing the marked bipartisanship of the American political structure.