It is rare in Australia for a member of a major party to switch to another political party. It is more common for a member of parliament to become an independent or form their own minor political party. Notable individual party switchers at federal level include:
In Italy, party-switching is more common than in other Western Europeanparliamentary democracies, with nearly 25% of members of the Italian Chamber of Deputies switching parties at least once during the 1996 to 2001 legislative term. A 2004 article in the Journal of Politics posited that party-switching in Italy "most likely is motivated by party labels that provide little information about policy goals and that pit copartisans against each other in the effort to serve constituent needs."
New Zealand
Party switching in New Zealand gained currency during the end of the 1980s, and even more so in the late 1990s after mixed member proportional representation was implemented. In particular, the phrase "waka-jumping" entered the public consciousness in 1998 when then-Prime Minister Jenny Shipley expelled the New Zealand First party from the ruling coalition government, and several New Zealand First MPs resigned from the party and stayed loyal to the government. In response to these defections, the was passed in 2001, which later expired in 2005. A proposal to replace the Act in 2005 failed. The new Electoral Act Amendment Bill 2018 is currently before the Select Committee.
In Nicaragua some major party switches occurred between 2002 and 2006 when the two major political parties, the Constitutional Liberal Party and the Sandinista National Liberation Front, formed a pact and members of both parties left to form new parties or make alliances with smaller ones.
Party switching is not unusual in Turkey, but Kubilay Uygun is known for his repeated switching during his single term in the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. He resigned from his party seven times and served four different parties, finishing as an independent.
In the Russian Federation, party switching is considered illegal in the State Duma and is highly frowned upon. After major party switches during the Boris Yeltsin Presidency, party switching was declared illegal in the State Duma, and can result in a forced resignation of the State Duma representative by the chairman of their ex-political party. However, there is an exception. If a member of the State Duma is considered an Independent politician, he or she may be permitted to join and switch to a party at any time. They may not switch after that. After a forced resignation, the State Duma representative can run again in future elections, as their new party's whip. The chairman of the political party can choose to replace the party switcher with whomever they choose. Party merging, however, is not illegal and can be seen when a big amount of political parties merged into United Russia, the current ruling party of Russia.
