Venezuela held a presidential election last weekend. Although there were approximately 12 parties on the ballot in that election, almost all of them nominated either the incumbent (President Chavez) or his leading opponent. Venezuelan election law permits fusion, so Venezuelan voters were able to vote for Chavez under any one of approximately six party labels. A few states in the U.S. also use fusion. It is not known if fusion is used in any other nations in presidential elections.
Hugo Chávez (62.9%) was the candidate of 24 distinct party labels, while his principal opponent, Manuel Rosales (36.9%) was the candidate of 43 distinct party labels. All remaining 12 candidates (0.3%) were each respectively the candidate of a single party. All together there were 79 distinct political parties/party labels on the ballot.
To see a sample ballot, go to the link below. Some of the candidates on this ballot later dropped out of the election.
http://www.cne.gov.ve/divulgacionPresidencial/boleta.html
Here again, having a lot of parties is a good thing, but quantity isn’t neccessarily quality.