A testimonial party () is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

that focuses on its principles, instead of adapting them to local or temporal issues in the pursuit of coalition government participation.

In the Netherlands

It is a peculiar phenomenon in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, because of the Dutch system of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

, in which any party that has over 0.66% of the vote can enter the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

. A typical House of Representatives has 10 or more factions represented. With such a large number of parties, it is all but impossible for one party to win the 76 seats needed for a majority in its own right. As a result, most Dutch political parties will negotiate and compromise to form a coalition government. Testimonial parties will not compromise; this, combined with the fact that they are usually small parties, makes their participation in a coalition government extremely unlikely. Examples of parties that have referred to themselves as "testimonial" include the orthodox Protestant Reformed Political Party (SGP) and the

animal rights Animal rights is the philosophy according to which many or all sentient animals have moral worth that is independent of their utility for humans, and that their most basic interests—such as avoiding suffering—should be afforded the sa ...

-advocating Party for the Animals. In contrast, the term 'program party' is used for parties oriented toward participation in coalitions.

In other countries

*The Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand and the

Christian Heritage Party of Canada The Christian Heritage Party of Canada (french: Parti de l'héritage chrétien du Canada), also referred to as CHP Canada, is a minor social conservative and Christian right federal political party in Canada; it was founded in 1987, the brainc ...

, many members of which had Dutch ancestry, may have been a version of a 'testimonial party' effectively exported to a foreign context. *Many

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a ...

parties, such as the Workers' Party of Uruguay, usually obtain less than 1000 votes in every election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Testimonial Party Political terminology Proportional representation electoral systems

In the Netherlands

In other countries

See also

References