How Many Parties in Each Country's Legislatures

How Many Parties in Each Country's Legislatures

The 50 most populous countries tells how many parties are represented in that nation’s legislative lower house. Many countries on the list have unicameral systems, so for those countries, the chart simply refers to the single chamber.

The United States and Nigeria are the only nations on the list with two parties in the lower house. This shows that such "two-party systems" are rare indeed, and unnatural.

Further evidence that it is unnatural to have only two parties in office is the fact that between 1828 and 1948, even the United States had more than two parties represented in the House, for all but 9 of the 71 congressional elections. The third parties held the balance of power in the House in 1848, 1854, 1858, 1862, 1878, 1916, and 1930.

This chart lists the 50 most populous countries, in order of population. It shows how many parties are represented in each country’s lower legislative chamber, as of April 10, 2015.

Nation	Name of Body	Term	Size of Body	No. of Parties
China	National Peoples Congress	5 years	2,987	1
India	House of the People	5 years	545	35
United States	House of Representatives	2 years	435	2
Indonesia	People’s Representative Council	5 years	550	10
Brazil	Chamber of Deputies	4 years	513	22
Pakistan	National Assembly	5 years	342	17
Nigeria	House of Representatives	4 years	360	2
Bangladesh	National Parliament	5 years	350	5
Russia	State Duma	4 years	450	4
Japan	House of Representatives	4 years	475	8
Mexico	Chamber of Deputies	3 years	500	7
Philippines	House of Representatives	3 years	292	15
Vietnam	National Assembly	5 years	500	1
Ethiopia	Council of People’s Representatives	5 years	547	8
Egypt	House of Representatives	5 years	567	16
Germany	Bundestag	4 years	598	5
Iran	Consultative Assembly	4 years	290	0
Turkey	Grand National Assembly	4 years	550	3
Dem Rep of Congo	National Assembly	5 years	500	90
Thailand	House of Representatives	4 years	500	11
France	National Assembly	5 years	577	11
United Kingdom	House of Commons	5 years	650	12
Italy	Chamber of Deputies	5 years	630	12
South Africa	National Assembly	5 years	400	13
Burma	House of Representatives	5 years	440	22
South Korea	National Assembly	4 years	300	3
Colombia	Chamber of Representatives	4 years	166	9
Tanzania	National Assembly	5 years	324	6
Kenya	National Assembly	5 years	349	22
Spain	Congress of Deputies	4 years	350	16
Argentina	Chamber of Deputies	4 years	257	7
Ukraine	Supreme Council	5 years	450	8
Algeria	Peoples National Assembly	5 years	462	27
Poland	Sejm	4 years	460	6
Sudan	National Assembly	6 years	354	12
Iraq	Council of Representatives	4 years	328	18
Canada	House of Commons	4 years	338	6
Uganda	Parliament	5 years	385	7
Morocco	House of Representatives	5 years	325	18
Saudi Arabia	- - -	- -	- -	- -
Peru	Congress	5 years	130	6
Venezuela	National Assembly	5 years	165	13
Uzbekistan	Legislative Chamber	5 years	150	4
Malaysia	House of Representatives	5 years	222	16
Nepal	Constituent Assembly	4 years?	575	30
Ghana	Parliament	4 years	200	4
Afghanistan	House of the People	5 years	250	19
Yemen	House of Representatives	6 years	301	5
Mozambique	Assembly of the Republic	5 years	250	3
North Korea	Supreme People’s Assembly	5 years	687	3

From May 2015 Ballot Access News