The ruling party or governing party in a parliamentary system is the political party or coalition of the majority in parliament. Within a parliamentary system, the majority in the legislature also controls the executive branch of government, thus leaving no possibility of dueling parties concurrently occupying the executive and legislative branches of government, such as in an American style presidential system where the party of the president does not necessarily also have a legislative majority. In his political manifesto The Green Book, Libyan leader Muammar al-Gaddafi attacks this ability of the ruling party, using it as a basis for his opposition to partisan politics.

Ruling party is also used to describe the party of single-party states, such as the Communist Party of China in the People's Republic of China.

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