ruling party

{{Short description|Political party or coalition holding a majority of elected positions}}

{{For|a list including ruling parties by country|List of ruling political parties by country}}

{{party politics}}

File:Map of European nationals coloured by percentage of vote governing party got in last election.svg

The ruling party or governing party in a democratic parliamentary or presidential system is the political party or coalition holding a majority of elected positions in a parliament, in the case of parliamentary systems, or holding the executive branch, in presidential systems, that administers the affairs of state after an election.{{Cite web |title=What is a 'ruling party'? {{!}} Legal Studies Questions |url=http://www.toppr.com/ask/question/what-is-a-ruling-party/ |access-date=2022-04-29 |website=Toppr Ask |language=en-IE}}{{Cite web |title=ruling party - English definition, grammar, pronunciation, synonyms and examples {{!}} Glosbe |url=https://glosbe.com/en/en/ruling%20party |access-date=2022-04-29 |website=glosbe.com}}{{Cite web |title=Party in Power - an overview {{!}} ScienceDirect Topics |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/party-in-power |access-date=2022-04-29 |website=www.sciencedirect.com}}{{Cite web |title=3How our democracy works|website=Parliament Gov ZA |url=https://www.parliament.gov.za/storage/app/media/EducationPubs/how-our-democracy-works.pdf |access-date=2022-04-29 }}{{Cite web |title=Meaning of 'ruling party' in English Dictionary|url=https://vdict.pro/en-en/ruling+party |access-date=2022-04-29 |website=vdict.pro}}

In many democratic republic countries like the Philippines, the ruling party is the party of the elected president that is in charge of the executive branch of government. In parliamentary systems, the majority in the legislature also controls the executive branch of government, thus leaving no possibility of opposing parties concurrently occupying the executive and legislative branches of government.{{Cite web |title=Government majority |url=https://www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/explainers/government-majority |access-date=2022-04-29 |website=www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk}} In other systems, such as in an American style presidential system, the party of the president does not necessarily also have a legislative majority.

A ruling party is also used to describe the party of one-party states, such as the Chinese Communist Party in the People's Republic of China.{{Cite web |date=2018-04-09 |title=10 Common Types of Government & Real-World Examples |url=https://thebestschools.org/magazine/common-forms-of-government-study-starters/ |access-date=2022-04-29 |website=TheBestSchools.org |language=en-US |archive-date=2022-04-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428215227/https://thebestschools.org/magazine/common-forms-of-government-study-starters/ |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |title=The Chinese Communist Party |url=https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/chinese-communist-party |access-date=2022-04-29 |website=Council on Foreign Relations |language=en}}