What are the disadvantages of coalition government?

Answer 1

b) The most obvious criticism of Proportional Representation is that it could form coalition governments. This is seen by some as a majorly bad thing as it supposedly does not allow ‘strong’ government. Having more than one party in charge of decision making could cause a lot of arguments between the leaders of the country as the top ministers may have opposing political ideologies and views. It could also mean that it is very hard to get policy through the governmental process meaning government could be overall less effective in the running of the country. In this case another problem could be the disproportionate power that the liberal democrats would gain out of the coalition. They would almost undoubtedly win fewer votes and fewer seats than the Conservative party but as a result of this possible coalition they could end up with members of their party in much more highly influential places in the governing body. A long term could be that whichever party wins each general election the Liberal Democrats could latch onto and stay in power permanently despite the face that they are the third most popular party in the country. It could also cause an overly expanded Cabinet to cater for everyone’s needs in the Government, which could lead to much needless expenditure. There could also be many arguments, even in the case of Labour and Lib Dems – two fairly similar parties, which cause Cabinets to split and some important policy to be suspended to do the impossible task of keeping everybody happy.