After every MMP election the news talks about coalitions for about a month. Here's what one actually is, using a packet of biscuits.
Imagine you and three friends are sharing a packet of biscuits. There are 12 biscuits. To decide what movie you watch, you need at least 7 biscuits worth of votes (more than half).
You have 5. Your best friend has 4. The other two have 2 and 1.
You can't pick the movie on your own. 5 isn't enough. So you go to your best friend and say "if you team up with me, that's 9 biscuits, we get to pick the movie. In return, you get to pick the snacks."
Congratulations. You've formed a coalition.
That's basically what happens after every MMP election. No party usually wins more than half the seats by themselves. So the biggest party has to go to one or two smaller parties and make a deal. "You support us in Parliament, and in return you get some ministerial jobs and some of your policies actually happen."
The smaller party isn't being a pushover - they're getting things they couldn't get on their own. The bigger party isn't being weak - they literally can't govern without the deal.
A few things to know:
- Coalition negotiations can take weeks. The country still runs in the meantime; the old government keeps going until a new deal is done. - Coalition deals are written down. Anyone can read them. They're often more honest about what will actually happen than the campaign promises were. - Sometimes a party agrees to "support on confidence and supply" but not join the government properly. That's a lighter version - they promise not to crash the government, but they don't have to vote for everything.
The bit grown-ups complain about: coalitions mean nobody gets exactly what they voted for. The bit grown-ups forget: that's kind of the point. It means more than one chunk of the country has to agree before anything big happens.
Anyway. Back to the biscuits. The other two friends are now sulking on the couch. That's also part of MMP.