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I'm a little unsure of my edit to fix the redirect-to-redirect of relative majority to First_Past_the_Post_electoral_system. I think it's right; but I'm not 100% sure. (It seems that the link might really be searching for a more general article about non-proportional representation.)Tenbaset 09:17 Mar 9, 2003 (UTC)

I have my questions about the correctness of one of statements in the article. it is said, that in France the government is chosen by the President instead of Parliament. However, France also is subject to possible Cohabitation, if the President is of another party than the Prime Minister (such as in Chirac's last term). How is this possible if the President choses the government? wlievens 22:03 Dec 4, 2003 (CET)

I would presume that the President needs to pick someone who is acceptable to Parliament, regardless of their own personal wishes. So sometimes they need to pick a political opponent. Timrollpickering 13:27, 21 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Indeed. And there have frequently been coalition governments in France both on the left and the right, in the sense of ministers coming from different parties, so as to ensure majority support. Meanwhile in Malta, which has one of the most PR electoral systems possible, coalition goverment is unknown in recent years even though the government frequently changes hands. Some of the sweeping statements in the article need softening. --Henrygb 16:19, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Algorithms

Here's an interesting computational problem: what's the fastest way to compute all possible minimal coalitions, where a coalition is defined as a subset of the parties of which the sum of their seats exceeds half of the total seats, and minimal as every partner in the coalition being necessary to hold that majority. I can't seem to come up with anything faster than O(2^N). Wouter Lievens 10:55, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Arguments section

One argument in favor of coalition governments is that they can think on the long term. They will take longer to reach a decision but once it is taken, it is no going to be reversed by the next government, thus allowing long term planning. France for example often doesn't go anywhere since the left does something, then the right undoes it, etc... I'd like to add a mention of this but I would need some examples and references. Morana (talk) 09:11, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

ya mum —Preceding unsigned comment added by 60.242.100.250 (talk) 07:17, 29 April 2008 (UTC)