ADD OUTSIDE SUPPORT

Currently, forming a government requires handing out cabinet positions to alliance partners to cross the majority mark. This works fine for two-bloc politics, but it misses one of the most common and dramatic real-world dynamics: outside support, where a party backs a government on confidence votes without joining the cabinet. I propose adding this as a formal mechanic.

HOW OUTSIDE SUPPORT WORKS

Instead of only being able to invite parties into cabinet to build a majority, a party or coalition would be able to offer (or be offered) outside support — pledging their seats toward the ruling coalition's majority count on confidence matters, without taking any ministerial or cabinet position.

For example: Red Green Labor is dominant in Jovosca and effectively unbeatable in elections. A third party, unable to beat Red Green Labor outright, instead pulls support from both the left-wing and right-wing blocs — who'd normally never sit in cabinet together — to prop up the third party's government from outside. Left and right parties get to check Red Green Labor's dominance without the "diabolical" optics or friction of literally sharing a cabinet table with their ideological opposites.

This means a government's majority is built from two pools:

• Cabinet coalition — parties with ministerial seats, formal governing partners

• Outside support pledges — parties whose seats count toward the majority mark but who hold no cabinet position and no formal governing role

WITHDRAWAL OF SUPPORT

Outside support isn't a permanent commitment — parties should be able to withdraw it at any time, same as in real parliamentary systems (confidence-and-supply arrangements collapsing, external backers pulling out, etc.). I propose the following sequence once a support party withdraws:

1. Day 0 — Withdrawal is announced; the ruling government's majority is recalculated without the withdrawn seats.

2. 10 in-game days — The ruling party/coalition is given a window to prove it can still hit the majority mark (through a floor test / confidence vote, existing allies, new outside support, poaching, etc.).

   • If they prove majority → government survives, business continues as normal.

   • If they fail → move to step 3.

3. 5 in-game days — Any other party or coalition claiming a majority is given a window to prove it (same floor-test mechanic).

   • If someone proves majority → they form the new government (with the option to build it via cabinet seats, outside support, or a mix).

   • If no one proves majority → an early election is automatically triggered.

WHY THIS IS GOOD

ADDS REALISTIC POLITICAL DRAMA — Outside support and its withdrawal is one of the most volatile, headline-grabbing features of real-world parliamentary politics. It gives smaller/opposition parties leverage and relevance even when they'll never be invited into cabinet.

CHECKS DOMINANT PARTIES — In games where one party (like your Red Green Labor example) is nearly unbeatable at the ballot box, outside support gives the rest of the field a mechanism to actually contest power between elections, rather than just waiting out inevitable election losses.

CREATES STRATEGIC DEPTH FOR THIRD PARTIES — A minor party gets a genuine path to government by assembling odd-bedfellow backers, which is a much more interesting playstyle than simply trying to out-poll a dominant party.

BUILT-IN FAIL-SAFE — The 10-day/5-day cascade means the game never gets stuck in permanent instability; if nobody can govern, the system resolves itself with an election instead of a stalemate.