This leads to the idea that electoral systems serve to concentrate votes on the real competitors, thus giving voters themselves a key role in this critical decision, even if it does reduce the representation of parties less directly involved. Is it more democratic for a small party with, say, 5% of the votes to decide, after the election and outside the control of the voters, to form an alliance with one or other major party and thus hand it control of the country? An example is the decision of the German liberals in 1982 to switch support from Schmidt to Kohl, though the latter recognised clearly that this had to be legitimised by fresh elections. In other words, the effect of most electoral systems, which is to strengthen the two main parties so that one can govern and the other form the opposition, is by no means reprehensible, even if it does reduce the representation of smaller parties. Nevertheless, the reduction should not be excessive, though this is largely a subjective matter and raises the issue of what constitutes a reasonable balance.