Unit 3: Eleven small Indian political parties band together as ‘third front’ as elections approach

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/25/eleven-small-indian-political-parties-band-together-as-third-front-as-elections-approach/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheRawStory+(The+Raw+Story)

In India, eleven political parties vowed to work together in hopes of defeating the nation's two main parties at the upcoming general elections. Prakash Karat, a senior leader of the Communist Party of India, said the new front would “work for the defeat” of Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (traditional parties that control nearly half of the seats in India's parliament) who is led by Narendra Modi. Karat also said, "We need an alternative to both the Congress and BJP. That’s why we the leaders of the 11 parties resolved today to work together."

Unfortunately, recent opinion polls placed Narendra Modi in ahead of congress's campaign who is led by the son, grandson and great grandson of former Prime Ministers, Rahul Gandhi. No single party has one a parliament majority since 1989. Karat said the parties had broadly agreed on a common policy framework and the front would give itself a name after more parties joined, while their prime ministerial candidate would be announced after the elections.

This emergence of an alliance of smaller parties could, however, spark a change. Winning the parliament majority is a long shot to say the least, but the presence of outside power is seen. These powers may one day be able to rise and become a political party that could, perhaps, defeat the stronger parties of the country. Depending on their alliance, the power could grow or shrink. By sticking together and adding more smaller parties, their political power could overpower the corrupt government of India.

Political parties in other countries are much different than in the United States. Here in the states, we have 2 major political parties: Democrats and Republicans. Much to the majority parties' concern, independent smaller parties are on the rise. Over the past couple of elections, the number of independent voters, instead of Democratic or Republican, is rising rapidly. Instead of identifying as one party or another, many voters are finding themselves in the middle because neither party represents what he or she believes.