Waka-jumping

Okay kiddo, have you ever played a game of follow-the-leader? You know how when the leader jumps over a log, everyone else in line has to jump over the log too?

Similarly, in politics, when a group of politicians agree to work together, they form a team called a political party. But sometimes, one of the members of the party (let's call her Sally) doesn't like what the team is doing and wants to go play by herself.

However, Sally is still part of the party team and was only elected as a part of that team. So if Sally wants to quit the team and play alone, she has to follow some rules called the party rules.

One of these rules says that if Sally leaves the team, she can't 'jump over' and join another team. This is called waka-jumping.

For example, let's say the party rules said that Sally can't join the soccer team if she leaves the party. If Sally left the party and then went and joined the soccer team, that's waka-jumping.

It's like playing a game of follow-the-leader but you can't switch to another game halfway through.