Party switching

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In politics, party switching is any change in party affiliation of a partisan public figure, usually one who is currently holding elected office.

In many countries, it takes the form of politicians refusing to support their political parties in coalition governments. This is particularly common in countries with less established political parties, such as Vanuatu and French Polynesia where in 2004, a few members of various parties left the coalition, forcing it to collapse. As in the United States, new parties are often formed by party switches, such as in the United Kingdom, where some Liberals moved to the Labour Party in the early twentieth century. In formerly communist countries in Europe, many communists switch to other parties ranging on the political spectrum from socialist to conservative. In Australia there have been high profile defections in recent history, including the move by Cheryl Kernot then leader of the Australian Democrats to the Labor Party, the declared independence of former Labor senator Mal Colston and the disintegration of the Democrats.

In the United States' dominant two-party system, the switches generally occur between the Republican Party and the Democratic Party, although there have also been a number of notable switches to and from third parties, and even between third parties. One notable "switch" was the 2000 defection of Senator Jim Jeffords from the Republican Party to become a political independent. Use of the term party switch often connotes a transfer of held power from one party to another. The majority of party switchers in the modern era have switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party. This behavior has been most widespread in the South, due to the gains of the Republican Party in the last fifty years.

Party switching

See also