In those systems, ordinarily scheduled elections are held before the assembly reaches the end of a fixed or maximum term, and do not require a dissolution.
This convention was demonstrated in the dismissal of prime minister Gough Whitlam by Governor General Sir John Kerr in 1975.
Kerr claimed that dissolving the House of Representatives was his duty and "the only democratic and constitutional solution" to the political deadlock over supply.
A notable instance occurred on August 6, 2024, when President Mohammed Shahabuddin dissolved Parliament after Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's resignation amid a mass uprising which led to the formation of an interim government tasked with overseeing the country until new elections could be organized.
During the Regency and reign of Dom Pedro II, the Chamber of Deputies was dissolved on several occasions, almost always when the clash between conservatives and liberals or between legislators and the Council of Ministers [pt] reached a degree considered too high by the Emperor.
However, on 3 November of that year, the National Congress would be closed by President Deodoro da Fonseca, with the legislature reinstated after the attempt was deemed a coup and he resigned.
After the Revolution of 1930, as Head of the Provisional Government, Vargas dissolved the National Congress, the state legislative assemblies and the municipal chambers.
On 10 November 1937, now President of the Republic elected by the same National Congress, Vargas staged a coup d'état, establishing the Estado Novo.
Despite the new charter determining the convening of a "National Parliament" with a appointed Federal Council and a Chamber of Deputies that could be dissolved, elections were never held.
During the brief parliamentary experience from 1961 to 1963 as a way to allow the inauguration of President João Goulart under strong political and military opposition, the Additional Act to the Constitution determined that "[v]erified the impossibility of maintaining the Council of Ministers for lack of parliamentary support, proven in motions of no confidence, consecutively opposed to three Councils, the President of the Republic may dissolve the Chamber of Deputies[...]".
2 (AI-2) gave the President of the Republic the power to decree the recess of the two Houses of the National Congress, and during this period he had the prerogative to legislate.
On 20 October 1966, President Castelo Branco decreed recess for a month, to contain a "grouping of counter-revolutionary elements" (the 1964 Coup d'Etat was considered a revolution by the military) that had formed in the legislature "with the aim of disrupting public peace".
On 13 December 1968, President Costa e Silva issued AI-5, an institutional act that began the most repressive and violent period of the dictatorship, closing the National Congress to combat subversion and "ideologies contrary to the traditions of our people ".
The last person to decree the closure of the legislature was President Ernesto Geisel, in 1977, through the "April package", after the National Congress rejected a constitutional amendment.
Geisel alleged that the MDB (then the opposition party on a unequal bipartisanship controlled by the military) had established a "minority dictatorship".
The first and only invocation of the dissolution was during the 2023 Ecuadorian political crisis when president Guillermo Lasso, undergoing impeachment proceedings in the National Assembly, dissolved the legislative body.
Under the French Fourth Republic formed after World War II, there was originally a weak role for the president of France.
[19] The second possibility has never occurred, but the Bundestag was dissolved in 1972, 1982, and 2005 when the then-ruling chancellors Willy Brandt, Helmut Kohl, and Gerhard Schröder deliberately lost votes of confidence in order that there could be fresh elections.
This has never happened, and, in the past, taoisigh have requested dissolutions before votes of no confidence have taken place, so as to force a general election rather than a handover of Government.
It is thought that Haughey chose not to do so but instead to go into a historic coalition because of poor opinion polls showing his Fianna Fáil party would lose seats in a second General Election.
"[26] After the resignation of the Cabinet of Italy, which can be freely decided by the prime minister, or caused by a vote of no confidence by the Parliament, or after general elections, the President has to consult the speakers of the two houses of Parliament, the delegations of the parliamentary groups, and senators for life to find someone who might be appointed prime minister and lead a new government with the confidence of both Houses.
In Japan, the House of Representatives of the National Diet (parliament) can be dissolved at any time by the emperor, on the advice of the Cabinet, headed by the prime minister.
The National Assembly of Pakistan, the country's lower house, dissolves automatically at the end of its five-year term, after which general elections must be held within 60 days.
Under Articles 111 and 117 of the Russian Constitution,[31] the president may dissolve the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly, if it either expresses no confidence in the Government of Russia twice in two months or rejects his proposed candidate for the prime minister three times in a row.
Under section 2 of the Scotland Act 1998, as originally passed, ordinary general elections for the Scottish Parliament are held on the first Thursday in May every four years (1999, 2003, 2007 etc.)
Eventually, under the Scottish Elections (Reform) Act 2020, the "normal" term was extended to five years, which was de facto already the practice (2011, 2016, 2021 etc.).
In practice, the majority of the colony came under the de facto control of the unrecognized Massachusetts Provincial Congress, and General Gage's attempts to suppress widespread dissent among the colonists directly lead to the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the beginning of the Revolutionary War.
69, Alexander Hamilton stressed that unlike the King of Great Britain, the President does not have the authority to dismiss Congress at his preference.
[39] To date, the presidential authority to prorogue Congress has never been used, although in 2020 President Donald Trump threatened to use it in order to make recess appointments.
In statement 240 explains that will dissolve the Parliament when in a same constitutional period the Assembly approve the removal of the vice president of the country by means of censure, three times.