But in 2017, Estonian political scientist Rein Taagepera [UCI Professor Emeritus] and his U.S. colleague Matthew Shugart found, using data on multiple elections in 49 countries, that the number of politically relevant parties that win seats in a parliament is strongly predicted by just two factors: The number of seats in the parliament and the number of legislators elected in each constituency. Other factors, such as, for example, a country’s ethnic diversity, are far less significant, though they can affect the shape of the political system, too.

For the full story, please visit https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-02-22/the-independent-group-is-a-sign-two-party-politics-is-dying.