One-party system

A one-party system is a political system in which one political party is overwhelmingly dominant. In some smaller jurisdictions even within larger two-party or multi-party systems, one party has gained the upper hand to such an extent that at that level of government, it functions as a one-party system. In such cases, political competition shifts to primary elections, and the most important struggle is to get the nomination of the dominant party, since it is known that whoever wins the nomination will win the general election. The other party may decide to conserve resources by running no candidates or putting up only token opposition.