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There are several contexts in which the term vehicle is used in politics:

Contents 1 Personalist 2 Historical distinction 3 Cover 4 State party 5 Parliamentary

A vehicle is a political party whose success largely hinges on the popularity and public image of its leader, and may even be perceived as synonymous with the leader.

Parties of this type are often founded by wealthy, telegenic businessmen or retread professional politicians. A "rags-to-riches" story, combined with flashy advertising and promotion campaigns, often inspires hope among the less fortunate that they might achieve the same success. On the other hand, these groups often are accused of conflicts of interest and of favoring their own business interests while in power. In many cases, these parties enjoy meteoric succeess initially, but may wane and eclipse when the leader retires from politics or dies.

Examples of businessmen or non-politicians:

• Forza Italia, the party of Italian prime minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi
• Congress for Democratic Change (CDC) of Liberian football player George Weah
• Fanmi Lavalas of Haitian dissident and former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide
• Institutional Renewal Party of National Action (PRIAN) of Ecuadorian banana magnate Álvaro Noboa
• Thai Rak Thai, the party of Thai prime minister and telecoms billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra
• Tiako-i-Madigasikara, the party of Malagasy president and dairy millionaire Marc Ravalomanana

Examples of career politicians or ex-military men:

• Citizen and Republican Movement (MCR) of former French minister Jean-Pierre Chevènement
• Guatemalan Republican Front (FRG) of ex-Guatemalan dictator Efraín Ríos Montt
• Ivoirian People's Front (FPI) of Ivoirian president Laurent Gbagbo
• Movement for the Fifth Republic (MVR) of Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez
• Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) of former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif
• Perú Posible of Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo

A vehicle represents the interests of an ethnic, linguistic, or caste group.

India contains thousands of languages, ethnic groups, cultures, geographical regions, states, tribes, clans, social strata, religions, and insurgencies. In this climate, many minorities strain to be heard and represented in the political system. There are many political parties which represent or draw their leadership from a single state or caste, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Bihar and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) of Tamil Nadu. The RJD and AIADMK also have strong personalist elements in Laloo Prasad Yadav and Jayalalitha, respectively.

Countries like Ethiopia, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo are also incredibly diverse and give rise to a large number of political parties with limited geographical or cultural reach.

Examples:

• Civic United Front (Chama Cha Wananchi) represents the Zanzibaris of Tanzania
• Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania
• New Clean Government Party (Japan), affiliated with the Soka Gakkai sect
• Zaman Lahiya party of Nigerien politician Moumouni Adamou Djermakoye

A vehicle is the electoral or legally-permitted wing of a clandestine political organization.

These parties are often eventually established after an organization is officially banned. Typical examples of this feature are Sinn Féin and Herri Batasuna, traditionally seen as fronts of Irish Republican Army and ETA respectively. There are also instances were the legal technicalities of the mother organization are unclear. In the case of PCMLE in Ecuador or the Communist Party of Nepal (Unity Centre-Masal) it would theoretically be possible for the two parties to gain legal recognition, but the party prefers to contest elections through fronts (People's Democratic Movement in Ecuador, People's Front in Nepal).

The distinctions between the mother organization and satellite party are not always clear, and may be subject to efforts by the mother group to hide or downplay them.

A vehicle is created by military governments or dictatorships to give the appearance of popular involvement in the political process.

In post-colonial Africa in particular, there have been numerous instances of military juntas instituting state parties after reaching power. Because of the top-down nature of their creation and initial structure, these groups often retain strong personalist or authoritarian characteristics if they survive beyond the period of authoritarian rule.

Examples:

• Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction in The Gambia, created by Yahya Jammeh
• Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea, created by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo
• Democratic Union of the Malian People, created by Moussa Traoré
• Gabonese Democratic Party, created by Omar Bongo
• Golkar in Indonesia, created by Suharto
• Jatiya Party (Ershad) in Bangladesh, created by Hossain Mohammad Ershad
• National Democratic Congress in Ghana, created by Jerry Rawlings
• National Democratic Party in Suriname, created by Dési Bouterse
• People's Revolutionary Party of Benin, created by Mathieu Kérékou
• Somali Revolutionary Socialist Party, created by Maxamed Siyaad Barre

A vehicle is a parliamentary formation dedicated to supporting the government.

To pass legislation, the executive branch must have support in the legislative branch or no progress will be made. If a head of state or government does not profess a partisan affiliation (sometimes because the constitution requires the head of state to be "above" politics), parliamentarians often form legislative coalitions to ensure a pro-government majority.

Examples:

• Pakistan Muslim League – Quaid supports Pervez Musharraf
• Republican Party of Armenia supports President Robert Kocharyan
• United Russia supports President Vladimir Putin