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