What is a coalition government?

In coalition government, more than one or several parties come together to form the government; it is also called the hung government. Usually, union of two or multi parties is sought to form the coalition government.

Coalition government is generally formed when a single party cannot achieve necessary majority needed to form the government. In coalition government, smaller parties with few seats can also become part of the government.

In one example, In UK’s 2010 general elections, Conservatives, which had won the largest number of seats, formed a coalition with the Liberal Democrats in order to gain the necessary majority required to form government.

In another example, in last 67 years, Israel elections have always produced a coalition government; in 2015 elections, Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud party won majority seats, agreed to form a coalition government with a right wing party in order to gain required number of seats necessary to form the government.  

Coalition government, however, is naturally not considered a strong government, as party with majority number of seats is invariably reliant on support of its smaller coalition partners in matters pertaining to legislation and others. Moreover, smaller parties are likely to push for their own agenda’s which might result in clash of interests, and breakdown of the coalition is also likely.