In a parliamentary system, the ruling party is determined by who has the majority of the seats (i.e. 50% + 1). In a situation where there are multiple parties, the possibility exists that no one party has a majority after an election. In this situation, the parties that got elected have the opportunity to form a coalition among themselves so that when counted together, they have a majority of the seats. The party in this coalition that has the most seats would be considered the senior party even if they only came in third overall.
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