What's the worst major party in the world?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

And besides, until you mentioned them, I never heard of them. 

That's... odd. Jobbik are a Hungarian Neo-Nazi party and Golden Shower are a Greek Neo-Nazi party. In neither case is the label hyperbole. Jobbik has attracted some international media attention because of its open (and extreme) antisemitism and because it polled 16% of the vote in the 2010 General Election. Golden Shower have attracted a lot of international media attention because they are linked to violence against immigrants and don't even bother to deny it. And because, despite (or because of?) that, 7% of the 62% of Greeks who voted in the second 2012 election voted for them and their support has since risen.

[Kitteh]

I can't think of any major party in the developed world that is worse than the U.S. Republican Party.  

The GOP has some pretty vile elements and has been on a long downward spiral for some time, but how is it worse than actual fascist parties like Jobbik and Golden Dawn?

Are these major parties?  Do they hold power?  Do they affect policy-making at the highest levels?  And besides, until you mentioned them, I never heard of them.  

Jobbik and Golden Dawn are significant in their relative countries (Hungary and Greece, respectively), but they're still third parties who have never and probably never will form a government, although they do matter in multi-party systems like Greece and Hungary.


Anyway, if we're considering "parties which have a chance of forming government" as major and limiting it to only democratic systems:

Fidesz (Hungary)
Republican Party (United States)
BJP (India)
ANC (extremely sad to put them on this list, but in their modern form they count)
LDP (Japan)
PRI (Mexico)
Likud (Israel)

The above are in no particular order. There are probably more that I'm not thinking of right now.

[Zuza]

Anyway, if we're considering "parties which have a chance of forming government" as major and limiting it to only democratic systems:

Fidesz (Hungary)
Republican Party (United States)
BJP (India)
ANC (extremely sad to put them on this list, but in their modern form they count)
LDP (Japan)
PRI (Mexico)
Likud (Israel)

The above are in no particular order. There are probably more that I'm not thinking of right now.

Some other pretenders:
Party of Regions (Ukraine)
FJP (Egypt)
PdL (Italy)
Law and Justice (Poland)
Justice and Development Party (Turkey)

If we include countries that can hardly be called democracies but nevertheless aren't one-party dominant states then 1st place goes to Hezbollah or one of the Iranian conservative parties.

[they don't love you like i love you]

Though speaking of which, are there any unreformed Stalinist parties that hold seats won in free and fair elections?

Communist Party of Greece, though they are too hilarious to not love.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Though speaking of which, are there any unreformed Stalinist parties that hold seats won in free and fair elections?

Communist Party of Greece, though they are too hilarious to not love.

Have they had fights with that Nazi party like Germany did in the 1920s and early 1930s?

[morgieb]

If we're considering major as 'a chance of forming government', then probably the Tea Party.

[doktorb]

Some people here are mixing up "worst" with "what I disagree with most"

[World politics is up Schmitt creek]

Though speaking of which, are there any unreformed Stalinist parties that hold seats won in free and fair elections?

Communist Party of Greece, though they are too hilarious to not love.

Have they had fights with that Nazi party like Germany did in the 1920s and early 1930s?

Yes.

[bore]

Though speaking of which, are there any unreformed Stalinist parties that hold seats won in free and fair elections?

Communist Party of Greece, though they are too hilarious to not love.

Have they had fights with that Nazi party like Germany did in the 1920s and early 1930s?

Yes.

One of which was recorded for posterity.

[Zanas]

Of the real major party, aka able to take power, I'd say the Republican Party and the PRI are good choices. The PdL isn't bad either. In fact, the parties that can make it into this topic is the ones you continuously have to ask yourself : "how on Earth can this party still be winning elections ?"

[Donerail]

Some people here are mixing up "worst" with "what I disagree with most"

^^^The Republicrats are particularly bad, but not the worst by any measure.

Anyways, the worst party is not really a party but the European nationalist anti-immigrant movement, be it manifested in Golden Dawn, Jobbik, the PVV, the FPÖ, the BNP, or the Front National. Runner-up goes to the Israeli far-right, namely Habayit Hayehudi and Otzma LeYisrael, as well as parts of Likud.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

United Russia has to be up there.

[morgieb]

United Russia has to be up there.

I dunno if that counts as a democracy though.

[DC Al Fine]

United Russia has to be up there.

Do 1 party plus systems count?

[traininthedistance]

According to the topic starter definition (and limiting ourselves to actual democracies), Golden Dawn and Jobbik seem like the obvious choices.

If you only consider major parties which are actually major, and are likely to have a good chance of forming a government, Fidesz strikes me as the worst.  What Orban has been doing to democracy in Hungary is beyond the pale in a way that even the horrible, retrograde ideologues in parties like PiL, FPÖ, and the GOP can't approach. 

I admit I'm unfamiliar with what makes the BJP so horrible.

[they don't love you like i love you]

I admit I'm unfamiliar with what makes the BJP so horrible.

Hindu nationalist extremists. They're the part of who like to stir up tensions and violence toward Muslims (think Slumdog Millionaire), engage in violence against missionaries and want to ban conversion.

[Vosem]

Zanu PF (redeemed slightly by their hilarious twitter account)

Just looked this up...that is one of the single funniest Twitter feeds I have ever had the pleasure to read. Sex positions are unAfrican.

[traininthedistance]

I admit I'm unfamiliar with what makes the BJP so horrible.

Hindu nationalist extremists. They're the part of who like to stir up tensions and violence toward Muslims (think Slumdog Millionaire), engage in violence against missionaries and want to ban conversion.

Okay, yeah, pretty horrible then.

[Donerail]

Zanu PF (redeemed slightly by their hilarious twitter account)

Just looked this up...that is one of the single funniest Twitter feeds I have ever had the pleasure to read. Sex positions are unAfrican.

@_jessgamble: Reading tweets of @zanu_pf they also say skinny women are unAfrican. Lovely.
@zanu_pf: Don't worry u r not skinny.

@zanu_pf: "Gangnam" is an unAfrican cult. #culture #facts #unAfrican

@zanu_pf: We suffer harsh climate &extreme heat because of Western Imperialist polution. The have broken the virginity of Ozone.

[morgieb]

Not sure if Zanu counts, Zimbabwe is hardly a democracy.

[Oakvale]

Are there really people in this thread claiming that Sinn Féin are as bad as Golden Dawn?

[YL]

It's hard to argue against the answer being Golden Dawn, with Jobbik maybe not far behind.

With a stricter definition of "major party", I'm very tempted to say the Republicans, but there are some other convincing candidates mentioned in this thread, such as Fidesz and Berlusconi's lot.  I'd also suggest that the Swiss People's Party deserve a mention.

[DC Al Fine]

Off the top of my head:

Parties that have formed/have a shot at forming government:
BJP
Sinn Fein

Parties with seats/ >5% of the vote
Jobbik
Golden Dawn
KKE

[Lief 🗽]

It's hard to argue against the answer being Golden Dawn, with Jobbik maybe not far behind.

With a stricter definition of "major party", I'm very tempted to say the Republicans, but there are some other convincing candidates mentioned in this thread, such as Fidesz and Berlusconi's lot.  I'd also suggest that the Swiss People's Party deserve a mention.

Fidesz is definitely worse than the GOP, but only by a depressingly small amount. Then again, I don't think Fidesz has ever intentionally damaged Hungary's credit rating as a bargaining tactic to force cuts in welfare for poor people to fund tax cuts for the extremely wealthy.

[Stranger in a strange land]

It's hard to argue against the answer being Golden Dawn, with Jobbik maybe not far behind.

With a stricter definition of "major party", I'm very tempted to say the Republicans, but there are some other convincing candidates mentioned in this thread, such as Fidesz and Berlusconi's lot.  I'd also suggest that the Swiss People's Party deserve a mention.

Fidesz is definitely worse than the GOP, but only by a depressingly small amount. Then again, I don't think Fidesz has ever intentionally damaged Hungary's credit rating as a bargaining tactic to force cuts in welfare for poor people to fund tax cuts for the extremely wealthy.

Judging by how various Republican state parties try to restrict the franchise by stringent voting requirements that the poor can't meet, gerrymandering, proposals to allocate electoral votes for president via gerrymandered congressional districts, and even outright voter intimidation, I'd say that Fidesz isn't significantly worse than the GOP, and sad to say, it's probably better than some of the Beck/Bachmann elements. Still not as bad as Golden Dawn and Jobbik though.

Off the top of my head:

Parties that have formed/have a shot at forming government:
BJP
Sinn Fein

The FPO has been in government, and the PVV has been in negotiations to form a government, meaning that it probably has a shot at being in government at some point.