Most modern democracies hold fixed-terms elections.
The term of office varies, but in many countries it is five years.
[1] Fixed-term elections are common for directly elected executive officers, such as directly elected mayors, governors and presidents, but less common for prime ministers and parliaments in a parliamentary system of government.
A number of countries do not provide for fixed terms for elected officials, instead stipulating the maximum length of a term, permitting elections to be held more frequently as determined by the government.
Such examples include the House of Commons of the UK,[5] the Australian House of Representatives, the Canadian House of Commons, the New Zealand Parliament, and the Folketing of Denmark; in each case the prime minister may advise the monarch to call an election earlier than the constitutional maximum term of the parliament.