Early years (1957–1979) of Kerala led by
E. M. S. Namboodiripad (1957) The political scenario in Kerala (1957–1980) was characterized by continually shifting alliances, party mergers and splits, factionalism within the coalitions and within political parties, and the formation of a numerous splinter groups. It was one of the first Communist governments to be democratically elected, after Communist successes in the
1945 elections in the
Republic of San Marino, a
microstate in Europe, and the 1946 Czechoslovak elections. The coalition politics of Kerala began with
second election held to the state legislative assembly in 1960. The
Communist Party of India (Marxist) first came into power in Kerala in 1967, under
Seven party front, which was an alliance of CPI(M),
CPI,
IUML, and four other parties. In 1970's, the major political parties in the state were unified under two major coalitions, one of them led by
Indian National Congress and
Communist Party of India and the other by
CPI(M).
Formation of LDF (1979) In the late 1970s and early 1980s, two main pre-poll political alliances were formed: the Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by the
Communist Party of India (Marxist) and
Communist Party of India and the United Democratic Front (UDF), led by the
Indian National Congress. for the first time in 1980. He formed government with the support of
Congress (A) under
A. K. Antony and
Kerala Congress under
K. M. Mani, Nayanar later became the longest serving
Chief Minister of Kerala, ever since
1980 election, the power has been clearly alternating between the two alliances till the
2016. LDF has won 6 out of 10 elections since the formation of the alliance in 1980. Since 1980, none of alliances in Kerala has been re-elected till the
2016. The
1987,
1996 elections led
E. K. Nayanar, and the
2006 elections led by
V. S. Achuthanandan formed governments and completed their full terms but were not re-elected. In 2016, LDF won the
2016 election led by
Pinarayi Vijayan and had a historic re-election in
2021 election where an incumbent government was re-elected for first time in 40 years.
Pinarayi Vijayan is the first
Chief minister of Kerala to be re-elected after completing a full term (five years) in office.
List of LDF Conveners == Current members ==