Hung parliament
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system (typically employing majoritarian electoral systems) to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legislators (commonly known as members or seats) in a parliament or other legislature.
In the Westminster system, in the absence of a clear majority, no party or coalition has an automatic constitutional entitlement to form government.
Alternatively, in some systems (notably in Canada), a minority government may take office without any majority at all, and work with other parties on a case-by-case basis.
In some parliamentary systems, however, a new government may be formed without recourse to an election – if, for example, a minor party holds the balance of power, it may publicly express for the opposition, thereby creating a new majority.
The term apparently emerged in the United Kingdom, around the time of the 1974 election, by analogy with a hung jury, that is, one unable to reach a verdict.
[6] At the 2010 federal election, which resulted in an exact 72–72 seat tie between Labor and the Liberal-National Coalition, incumbent Prime Minister Julia Gillard secured the support of four out of six Independent and Green Party crossbenchers and continued to govern until 2013.
In the 2016 federal election a hung parliament was only narrowly averted with the Liberal-National Coalition winning 76 seats, the bare minimum required to form a majority government.
On 4 December 2008, Governor General Michaëlle Jean granted Prime Minister Stephen Harper a prorogation on the condition that parliament reconvene early in the new year.
[8] At the territorial level, a unique situation happened in the 2021 Yukon general election, in which the electoral district of Vuntut Gwitchin resulted in a tie.
A draw was held between the two candidates which ultimately named NDP challenger Annie Blake the winner against incumbent Liberal cabinet minister and MLA Pauline Frost.
This victory ultimately resulted in a hung parliament in the Yukon legislature with the NDP holding the balance of power.
[15] India returned to the norm of a hung parliament in the 2024 General Elections with both BJP and INC failing to produce majority in it.
Fianna Fáil had enough seats to put together a rainbow government with the other centre-left, hard left parties and independents but negotiations broke down.
Once the deal with FF was signed, Taoiseach Enda Kenny conducted talks with the independents and entered government for a second term.
[21] In the United Kingdom, before World War I, a largely stable two-party system existed for generations; traditionally, only the Tories and Whigs, or from the mid-19th century the Conservative and Liberal parties, managed to deliver Members of Parliament in significant numbers.
The possibility of change arose when, in the aftermath of the Act of Union, 1800, a number of Irish MPs took seats in the House, though initially these followed the traditional alignments.
However, two Reform Acts (in 1867 and in 1884) significantly extended the franchise and redrew the constituencies, and coincided with a change in Irish politics.
The elections of 1929 resulted in the last hung parliament for many years; in the meantime, Labour had replaced the Liberals as one of the two dominating parties.
[22] The third one resulted from the snap election held in June 2017 that had been called for by Theresa May in order to strengthen her majority heading into Brexit negotiations later in 2017.
According to researchers Andrew Blick and Stuart Wilks-Heeg, the phrase "hung parliament" did not enter into common usage in the UK until the mid-1970s.
In order to counter the potential instability of minority government involved groups may negotiate written agreements defining their terms of support.
His direct successors, Prime Ministers Édith Cresson and Pierre Bérégovoy, both formed minority governments, relying alternately on the Communists' or the Centrists' support in Parliament (depending on the issue).
In the 2022 French legislative elections, a hung parliament occurred again with President Macron's Ensemble coalition as the largest bloc in the National Assembly.
Both the President and the Prime Minister held talks with opposition leaders in order to try forming a coalition government with the centre-right (LR) and the centre-left (PS and the Greens), or at least reaching some sort of confidence-and-supply deal with them.
On this occasion the Reform and United parties became a coalition government out of mutual fear of Labour's ever-increasing appeal as the Great Depression worsened.
Governor-General Dame Catherine Tizard asked Sir David Beattie to form a committee, along with three retired appeal court judges, to decide whom to appoint as Prime Minister.
In the 2010 UK general election, another hung parliament occurred with the Conservatives as the largest party, and discussions followed to help create a stable government.
In the 2017 UK general election, a hung parliament occurred for the second time in seven years with the Conservatives again being the largest party.
The Conservatives led by Theresa May formed a minority government, supported by a confidence-and-supply agreement with the Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party.
In 2005, this was the case in the 60-seat National Assembly for Wales, where Labour lost their majority when Peter Law was expelled for standing against the official candidate in the 2005 Westminster election in the Blaenau Gwent constituency.
