In politics, a coalition is a temporary alliance of political parties, political groupings and parliamentary groups.
In many nations, parties form coalitions to form a stable government. This is necessary when - as is often the case in political systems with proportional representation - one party or parliamentary group alone does not have the absolute majority required to govern. Coalitions, however, do not necessarily have to have parliamentary majorities; minority governments based on coalitions are also common in some political systems.
