Political party

Overview
A political party is a group of people who come together to contest elections and hold power in the government. The party agrees on some proposed policies and programmes, with a view to promoting the collective good or furthering their supporters' interests.

While there is some international commonality in the way political parties are recognized, and in how they operate, there are often many differences, and some are significant. Many political parties have an ideological core, but some do not, and many represent ideologies very different from their ideology at the time the party was founded. In many democracies, political parties are elected by the electorate to run a government. Many countries, such as Germany and India, have several significant political parties, and some nations have one-party systems, such as China and Cuba. The United States is in practice a two-party system, but with many smaller parties also participating and a high degree of autonomy for individual candidates. Its two most important parties are the Democratic Party (USA) and the Republican Party (USA). Currently, Bharatiya Janata Party from India is the world's largest political party in terms of primary membership.

Also see

 * 1) Party caucus
 * 2) Party headquarters
 * 3) Political Spectrum
 * 4) A definitive list of 47 typical British Parliamentary constituencies