Divided Party Control in the United States

Abstract

Abstract Recent elections in the United States have continued a condition that is impossible in most democratic systems and rare in a few others, but seems to have become normal in America: namely, divided party control-a situation in which the President belongs to one party and the majority in one or both Houses of Congress belongs to the other party.1 Divided party control is possible only in those systems which directly elect both executives and legislators, with the voters casting separate votes for each. This makes it possible for voters to split their ballots between or among parties in voting for the two kinds of officials. Other systems in which this is possible are France under the Fifth Republic, Finland, and most Latin American nations (especially relevant for present purposes are those, such as Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Venezuela, that now hold reasonably free elections).2 If they maintain the courses on which they are now embarked, many republics of the former Soviet Union are likely to join the list (Lijphart 1984; Sartori 1987).3 Divided party control is rare but not unknown in presidential democracies other than the United States.