| Part of thePolitics series |
| Party politics |
|---|
 Politics portal |
Aminority government,minority cabinet,minority administration, or aminority parliament is agovernment andcabinet formed in aparliamentary system when a political party orcoalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in thelegislature.[1] It is sworn into office, with or without the formal support of other parties, enabling a government to be formed. Under such a government, legislation can only be passed with the support or consent of enough other members of the legislature to provide a majority, encouraging multi-partisanship. Inbicameral legislatures, the term relates to the situation in the chamber whose confidence is considered most crucial to the continuance in office of the government (generally, thelower house).
A minority government tends to be less stable than amajority government because, if they can unite, opposing parliamentary members have sufficient numbers to vote against legislation, or even bring down the government with avote of no confidence. If, however, the minority government forms supporting partnerships with some parliamentary parties, it can be as stable as majority governments.[2]
 | This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(July 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
To deal with situations in parliamentary systems where no clear majority to form a government exists, two or more parties may establish a formal coalition government, commanding a clear majority of the parliamentary members. A party might also enter into less formal alliances or agreements with other parties or individual members to allow the minority government to stay in office.
A common situation is a governance with "jumping majorities", where the cabinet stays as long as it can negotiate support from a majority in the parliament, even though that majority may be differently formed from issue to issue or bill to bill. On occasion, the legislature may permit a minority cabinet to continue in office despite having been defeated on a given vote, and a minority government might even bring on aconfidence vote and threaten to resign should the legislature vote against it.
An alternative arrangement is a looser alliance of parties, exemplified by Sweden. There the long-governing Social Democrats have ruled with more or less formal support from other parties – in the mid-20th century from Agrarians, after 1968 from Communists, and more recently from Greens and ex-Communists – and have thus been able to retain executive power and (in practice) legislative initiative. This is also common in Canada, where nineelections from 1921 to 2005 effectively producedminority federal governments. The parties can rarely cooperate enough to establish a formal coalition but operate under a loose agreement instead.
Occasionally, aconfidence and supply agreement may be formed. This is a more formal pact that still falls short of creating a coalition government. In the Canadian province ofOntario, theLiberal Party formed a minority government from1985 to 1987 on the basis of a formal accord with theNew Democratic Party (NDP): the NDP agreed to support the Liberals for two years on allconfidence motions and budgetary legislation, in exchange for the passage of certain legislative measures proposed by the NDP. This was not a formal coalition, because the NDP remained an opposition party and was not given seats in thecabinet. In this case, the Liberals did not even have a plurality of seats: theProgressive Conservatives were the largest single party with 52 seats, whereas the Liberals had 48 and the NDP had 25.
New Zealand's48th Parliament operated with both a coalition and a looser agreement: the government was a coalition between theLabour Party and theProgressives, whileUnited Future andNew Zealand First had an agreement to support the government on confidence matters, while theGreen Party abstained.
In mostWestminster system nations, each constituency elects one member of parliament by simple plurality voting. This system heavily biases the vote towards increasing the number of seats of the top two parties and reducing the seats of smaller parties, a principle known in political science asDuverger's law, and thus minority governments are relatively uncommon. Advocates of this system see this as one of its advantages. A party with less than 40% of the popular vote can often win an outright majority of the seats. (For instance, in the2005 UK General Election, the governing Labour party won by a majority of 66 seats in the House of Commons with only 35.2% of the popular vote.) If support for some parties is regionally concentrated, however, then Duverger's law applies separately to each region, and so no party can be sufficiently dominant in each region to receive a majority of the seats. This was the situation in Canada in the2004,[3]2006,2008,2019, and2021 federal elections, with no party obtaining a majority due in part to the dominance of theBloc Québécois in the province ofQuebec.
In Westminster systems, in minority situations, the incumbent government usually has the first opportunity to attempt to win the confidence of the House. This is so even if the incumbents have fewer seats – the incumbent prime minister still holds their commission for the duration of the writ period and immediately following an election. If they cannot form a government that commands the confidence of the House then it is expected that they will resign that commission voluntarily – it is not considered acceptable for the Sovereign (or his representative) to revoke said commission unless the prime minister was acting in serious breach of constitutional protocol. Nevertheless, usually, an incumbent government that loses its plurality in the House simply resigns, especially if the main opposition party is only a few seats short of having a majority or if it feels it has no chance of winning the support of enough members of smaller parties to win an initial confidence vote.
Nevertheless, the now-common practice of the party with the most seats forming the government has led to a widespread misconception among voters that a convention exists whereby the party with the most seats always gets to form the government. In fact, the most compelling reason for this practice is that the party with the most seats can survive confidence votes so long as smaller party (or parties) simplyabstain from confidence votes, whereas a governing party without a plurality in the House needs at least one other party to vote with it at all times (assuming the largest party will always vote no confidence, but that is almost certain to occur when they are denied the opportunity to govern). This means that in most situations, the party with the most seats has the best chance and the least complicated route to winning a confidence vote, regardless of its place on the political spectrum.
At the Canadian federal level, in the four most recent of the five occasions a governing party lost the plurality without another winning a majority (1957, 1963, 1979, and 2006), the incumbent governments resigned rather than attempt to stay in power.
Whatever party forms the government must either form a coalition with one or more other parties, or they must win some form of support from the other parties or independents so as to avoid no-confidence motions. Because of no-confidence motions, minority governments are frequently short-lived or fall before their term is expired. The leader of a minority government will also often call an election in hopes of winning a stronger mandate from the electorate. In Canada, for instance, federal minority governments last an average of 18 months.
The unprecedentedly close2010 Australian federal election produced a federal minority government in Australia for the first time since1940. TheLabor Party andCoalition both won 72 seats, 4 short of a majority. Labor won thetwo-party preferred vote by 0.24%. Six crossbenchers, consisting of four independents, oneGreens MP, and oneWA Nationals MP, held the balance of power. Ultimately, four crossbenchers gaveconfidence and supply to Labor, allowing them to form an extremely narrow minority government. This government stood until the2013 election.[4]
After the2016 federal election, theCoalition formed a majority government of just one seat. They lost their majority after the2018 leadership spill which deposed Prime MinisterMalcolm Turnbull, asNational Party MPKevin Hogan moved to the crossbench. The government lost another seat after the2018 Wentworth by-election, which was won by independentKerryn Phelps. They lost another seat after MPJulia Banks resigned from theLiberal Party, reducing the government to 73 seats. However, they retained confidence from all three MPs, enabling them to remain in government.
Belgium is not unfamiliar with minority governments. Moreover, this type of government is not explicitly provided for in the Constitution, even though the Constitution does not prevent its existence. More often than not, minority governments emerge following elections when the government that was in power loses its majority and has to become acaretaker government pending the formation of a new government.[5]
In Belgium, it is the King who appoints the government.[6] However, as Belgium is a democratic state, constitutional custom requires that this appointment must be approved by theChamber of Representatives, the democratically elected body.[7] This consent is given by a vote of confidence. There is, however, a small constitutional trick, since the majority required to obtain confidence is not calculated on the basis of all the members of parliament, but on the basis of the votes cast. As the specialist on minority governments in Belgium, Lucien Rigaux, points out, this means that the majority is calculated on the basis of the members present and does not require more than 76 votes (the majority of the 150 seats in the Chamber). Moreover, confidence is obtained if there are more votes in favour than against. For example, out of 100 votes cast, a minority government can be invested with 40 affirmative votes, 20 negative votes and 40 abstentions. The abstention of parties that, for various reasons, do not wish to enter the government thus makes it possible to form an emergency government with full powers and democratic legitimacy.[8]
Never in the federated entities has a minority government been formed spontaneously. On the other hand, at the central and then federal state level, there have been five attempts to form a minority government. Three of these attempts were transformed.[9] As Lucien Rigaux points out in an issue devoted to the history of minority governments in Belgium: "The first two attempts were failures. In 1925, theLiberals experienced an electoral debacle. They preferred to stay away from a government majority. TheCatholic Party and theBelgian Workers' Party each won approximately 40 percent of the seats so they could not govern alone. However, within the Catholic Party, there remains serious reluctance to collaborate with the Socialists. It must be said that strong tensions between the two camps, particularly over the Flemishisation of theGhent University and the management of external affairs, had led to the fall of the homogeneous Catholic government. After 38 days ofcaretaker government – which was relatively long for the time – the King appointed a Catholic cabinet. The latter was finally nipped in the bud by Parliament since the latter decided not to grant its confidence because the proposed Catholic coalition did not respect "Flemish national law", that it "was not qualified to resolve the difficulties of the parliamentary situation" and that it did not make it possible to fight the bourgeoisie".[10]
In 1946, the government of national unity, which followedWorld War II, had already served its purpose. The Liberals felt that their new electoral defeat invited them to undergo an opposition cure. Socialists and Catholics clashed during the election campaign over the royal question of the return of KingLeopold III to Belgium, which made the political climate particularly tense. The Socialists reject the invitation of the Catholic informer to form a government because the former want to associate the Communists, who have obtained a better result than theLiberal Party, with the government, while theCatholic Party categorically refuses to do so. After a month of political crisis, a cabinet composed solely of socialists is appointed by the King. In the parliamentary gallery, the then Prime Minister,Paul-Henri Spaak, declared: "if you think you can quickly give the country a government other than the one before you, stronger, based on a stable majority, do not hesitate, overthrow us. But if you don't have that assurance, if you foresee, after a negative vote, a long period of hesitation, conciliations, abortive attempts, then think carefully about what you are going to do".[11] He nevertheless succumbs a few days later, since with as many votes in his favour as against him, he does not enjoy the confidence of Parliament. The defeat must have been all the more difficult to swallow as two Socialist MEPs had left before the vote in order not to miss their train toLiège.[12]
On the other hand, the last three attempts were successful.
Firstly in 1958 a minority government received, for the first time, the support of Parliament. TheSocial Christian Party obtained a remarkable score that had nothing to envy to its results of the 19th century with 104 seats out of 212. However, the government's formation patinated notably on the school question which pitted Catholics and lay people against each other and which related to the financing of Catholic and public schools. Both the socialists and the liberals have the impression that they are playing a fool's game where the lowest bidder will have the chance to claim a few positions in a government that will carry out the entire Christian program. The Christian Social Party then tries to capitalize on its 104 seats to gain confidence. Contrary to all expectations, the abstention of oneVolksunie member and two Liberals was enough to gain the confidence of Parliament. TheEyskens II minority government thus received the support of a relative majority of the members present, 106 in favour and 104 against. A few months later, the minority government became a majority government when the Liberal Party joined the government team after an agreement was reached on the school issue.[13]
Then, in 1974, the political context was that of the state reforms initiated in 1970. Community autonomy was achieved, but the implementation of regionalisation was at a standstill, in particular because the Brussels dossier was repeatedly put on ice. Fifteen days after the elections of 10 March 1974,Léo Tindemans (CVP) was appointed formator. He is entering into negotiations with the Liberals and theSocialists to form a government that can benefit from a broad parliamentary base. While the liberals seem to be acquiescing, the negotiations with the socialists reveal divergences, mainly on the implementation of regionalisation, on the question of state interference in economic affairs and on the method of "community to community" negotiation involving so-called community parties rather than political families.[14] The socialists, who had campaigned strongly on the left, decided in the Namur Congress to withdraw from the negotiations and denounced the formation of a "coalition of the rights". Not giving up on forming a large majority, the social-Christian and liberal political families negotiated with the community parties. A partial agreement is reached in Steenokkerzeel. For theWalloon Rally as long as there is no agreement on everything, there is no agreement on anything. Nevertheless, it decides to grant its benevolent abstentions to the Christian Liberal coalition so that a government can be formed quickly. With 100 votes in favour, 63 against and, above all, 47 abstentions, the minority Tindemans I government won the confidence of the House and the Senate five days later. TheWalloon Rally also joined the coalition, which became a majority a few months later.[15]
Finally, the last successful attempt was made in 2020 to fight theCOVID-19 crisis. While the negotiations have been stalled since the last elections on 26 May 2019, the coronavirus crisis has brought down the cards. A sort of national union to which theN-VA does not, however, adhere, theVlaams Belang and the PTB decided to give its confidence to theWilmès II government in order to give it full powers and, above all, democratic legitimacy to deal with the health crisis.[16]
As with day-to-day business, the minority government provides a flexible institutional response in times of crisis that allows the state to continue to function and to be able to carry out its essential tasks. However, unlike a majority government, the action of a minority government is not locked to current affairs, day-to-day business or urgent decisions. It benefits from the fullness of its competences since it is constituted on the basis of a democratic decision which grants it de facto a certain democratic legitimacy.[17]
The main disadvantage of minority government by the elected assembly is that it can be instituted without a majority of the members of Parliament having voted in favour of it, but that, on the other hand, a majority of the members of the assembly is required to dismiss it (76 minimum).[18]
There were several cases of minority governments in the history of the Czech Republic.
First case wasSecond Cabinet of Václav Klaus (1996–1998) which consisted ofODS,KDU-ČSL andODA. Deputies ofČSSD agreed to not appear in parliament during the vote of confidence and the government was thus voted in with confidence. Towards the end of 1997, cabinet resigned in connection with accusations of funding irregularities in the ODS.[19]
Second case is theCabinet of Miloš Zeman (1998–2002) that governed from 1998 to 2002. It was established by the so-calledOpposition Agreement. It was a minority government of theCzech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) supported by theCivic Democratic Party (ODS).
First Cabinet of Mirek Topolánek (2006–2007) was minority government of the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and non-partisans. On 3 October 2006 the cabinet did not pass through Confidence and supply in Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic by 96 to 99.[20]
First Cabinet of Andrej Babiš (2017–2018) consisted ofANO 2011. On 16 January 2018 the cabinet failed a confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic, by 78 to 117.[21] It was replaced bySecond Cabinet of Andrej Babiš (2018-2021) which was minority coalition government consisting of ANO 2011 andCzech Social Democratic Party (ČSSD) which was supported byCommunist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (KSČM).[22]
Minority governments can occur in the federalParliament of Canada, and the legislatures of mostprovinces and territories except theNorthwest Territories andNunavut, which have non-partisan legislatures and operate as aconsensus government.[23]
During the history of federal Canadian politics, there have been fifteen minority governments, in fourteen separate minority parliaments.[note 1] Federal minority governments typically last less than two years.[24] Exceptions to this include the26th,27th,39th and40th Canadian parliaments, which all lasted for longer than two years. The14th Canadian Parliament functioned as a minority government for half of its duration, owing tofloor-crossings and by-elections. The15th Canadian Parliament was the only federal minority parliament that saw two different minority governments form. The most recent minority parliament elected at the federal level is the44th Canadian Parliament, whose composition was determined in September 2021.
Minority governments also occur in all provincial legislatures, as well as the Yukon Legislative Assembly. However, minority governments do not occur as frequently in these legislatures as they do at the federal level.Ontario has seen six minority legislatures in its political history, the most among the 10 provinces and the territory of Yukon.Alberta is the only province that has never had a minority government in its provincial legislature.[25]
While minority governments may occur in Canadian politics, the formation of a formal coalitions is rare, with past minority governments relying on cooperation andconfidence and supply arrangements to govern instead.[23][26] Historically, several coalition governments have formed in the 1840s and 1850s, in theParliament of the Province of Canada. The formation of theGreat Coalition in 1864 eventually led toCanadian Confederation in 1867. SinceCanadian Confederation, only one wartimecoalition between the Conservatives and Liberals has formed in federal Canadian politics in 1917. Coalition governments have occurred more frequently in provincial legislatures, with several provincial coalition governments having been formed in the 20th and 21st century.[27]
Denmark has a rich tradition of minority governments. Despite the country'selectoral system ofproportional representation, which almost always results in the winning party coming nowhere near a majority, single-party minority governments are still a regular occurrence in Danish politics.
Since 1982 even most of multi-party coalition governments in Denmark are minority ones; thus, the government of the day is still required to make deals with non-governing parties. More often small far-left or far-right parties provide confidence support of centre-left or centre-right coalition governments led by Social Democrats or Venstre. For many years, Danish politics has been divided into "Red" and "Blue" blocs, whose parliamentarians are typically expected to supportSocial Democratic andVenstre cabinets, respectively.
TheFrederiksen Cabinet elected in the2019 Danish general election is a single-party minority government of theSocial Democrats (who received about 25% of the vote in the previous election) supported by three other parties;[28] the previous cabinet,Lars Løkke Rasmussen III, was a three-party minority coalition led byVenstre and supported by theDanish People's Party. An earlier cabinet of Rasmussen's,Lars Løkke Rasmussen II, was a single-partyVenstre minority government, a particularly notable feat, asVenstre only received about 20% of the vote in theelection, finishing third.
Estonia has had several minority governments. A minority cabinet can occur:
Additional support is possible also because MPs leaving a party faction are not allowed to officially join another faction until the next elections. A government can be a minority government either throughout its term or just a part of its term, usually the latter. A list of minority cabinets:
Since the joint establishment of theFifth Republic and of thetwo-round system for parliamentary elections in 1958, France has known only a few minority governments: indeed, the majoritarian electoral system usually produces seizable parliamentary majorities on which governments can rely, but there are some exceptions. Since 1958, only 3 out of 16 legislative elections resulted in ahung parliament: the1988,2022 and2024 elections. In both instances, minority governments were formed following the elections, with no formal coalition or confidence-and-supply agreement being put in place to guarantee stability.
In fact, theFrench Constitution provides a large number of institutional tools to ensure political stability at the detriment of parliamentary sovereignty, constitutional tools that become critical when theexecutive power has to govern in minority:
These are the six minority governments in the history ofFrance's Fifth Republic as of 2024:
| Period | Government head | Parties | Seats | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Government | Support | Total | |||||
| 1988-1991 | Michel Rocard | PS | 275 | 47.7% | 41 | 316/577 | 54.8% |
| 1991-1992 | Édith Cresson | PS | 275 | 47.7% | 0 | 275/577 | 47.7% |
| 1992-1993 | Pierre Bérégovoy | PS | 275 | 47.7% | 0 | 275/577 | 47.7% |
| 2022–2024 | Élisabeth Borne | RE –MoDem –HOR (Ensemble !) | 251 | 43.5% | 0[note 2] | 251/577 | 43.5% |
| 2024 | Gabriel Attal | RE –MoDem –HOR (Ensemble !) | 250 | 43.3% | 0 | 250/577 | 43.3% |
| 2024–present | Michel Barnier | RE –MoDem –HOR (Ensemble !) –LR | 212 | 36.9% | 0 | 212/577 | 36.9% |
The previousBorne government was a three-party minority coalition government as result of theJune 2022 parliamentary elections that saw PresidentMacron's coalition lose its parliamentary majority in the National Assembly, going from a 115-seat majority to a hung parliament in which the centrist presidential coalition was the largest bloc but 38 short of an overall majority. The Borne cabinet survived to 31ss motions of no confidence and Prime Minister Borne triggered constitutional article 49.3 23 times, mostly to pass the 2023 Government and Social Security Budgets but also to pass its pension system reform in March 2023. Nonetheless, the government lost several parliamentary votes, an oddity under the Fifth Republic.[29]
Minority government is unusual in Germany, though it was more common historically during theGerman Empire and theWeimar Republic. In the Federal Republic (since 1949), theconstructive vote of no confidence theoretically grants minority governments a high degree of longevity, but they are rare in practice. No minority government has ever been invested on the federal level, though brief periods of minority government have existed when a government has lost its majority mid-term. Minority governments have also existed at the state level, sometimes for substantial periods. The viability of minority government varies between states, as some require anabsolute majority vote by parliament for a government to be invested, while others require only a simple majority or plurality.[30]
Between 1949 and December 2017, there were 31 periods of minority government in Germany, including four at the federal and 27 at the state level. All four federal instances were the result of an incumbent government losing its majority: thefourth Adenauer cabinet after the withdrawal of theFDP; thesecond Erhard cabinet, also after the withdrawal of the FDP; thefirst Brandt cabinet after parliamentary defections; and thethird Schmidt cabinet after the dismissal of the FDP. Of these, only the second Erhard and third Schmidt cabinets are considered "true" minority governments, as the fourth Adenauer cabinet was quickly dissolved and replaced by thefifth Adenauer cabinet, and the first Brandt cabinet retained a technical majority due to the Bundestag delegation from Berlin. Erhard and Schmidt's minority governments were short-lived, lasting less than a month, and both ended with the Chancellor leaving office.[30]
Between 1949 and December 2017, nine different states had at least one period of minority government, with some having as many as four. Compared to the federal level, state-level minority governments usually survived much longer, lasting an average of 333 days. The longest was the twoSPD-led minority governments of Reinhold Höppner inSaxony-Anhalt, which served two complete terms (1,452 and 1,406 days, respectively) between 1994 and 2002. These governments, enabled by the abstention of thePDS during confidence votes, were dubbed the "Magdeburger model". However, most minority governments still resulted from the loss of a majority – on 13 occasions due to the withdrawal of a coalition partner, on 12 occasions due to defeat in an election, and on four occasions due to parliamentary defections. Only seven minority governments were formed on a "tolerance" basis similar to the Magdeburger model. Furthermore, only two minority governments lasted more than a single term: the aforementioned Höppner governments in Saxony-Anhalt, and from 1982 to 1983 and 1983–85 inHesse, when theGreens tolerated two consecutive SPD minority governments (this arrangement ended in 1985 when the SPD and Greens entered into coalition.)[30]
Other examples of a minority government on a state level include the first government ofKlaus Wowereit inBerlin, comprising a minority coalition of the SPD and Greens supported by the PDS, which was invested after a corruption scandal led to the collapse of the previous CDU government; it served on an interim basis from June 2001 until theOctober state election.[31] The first government ofHannelore Kraft inNorth Rhine-Westphalia, comprising a coalition of the SPD and Greens tolerated byThe Left, was formed after the2010 state election and served until the2012 election.[32] The second government ofBodo Ramelow inThuringia, a coalition of The Left, SPD, and Greens, was invested with the tolerance of theCDU to resolve the2020 Thuringian government crisis.[33]
TheIrish parliamentary system broadly works on a simple majority system, where theTaoiseach is elected by theDáil when they achieve 50% + 1 of the votes in favour of their nomination. The Taoiseach then appoints themembers of the government with the approval of the Dáil. Since the 1980s, the popularity of other parties has increased such that coalition governments are now typical and expected, with one of the two major parties being the senior partner, and with one or more junior partners ensuring that the coalition retains a majority in the Dáil.
A minority government is formed when a party (or a coalition) secures agreement from one or more other parties orindependent TDs who are not members of the government to support their nomination for Taoiseach and achieve majority support. Support for bills and other items requiring a Dáil majority vote is then negotiated on a bill-by-bill basis.
If no agreement can be reached to nominate an individual to lead a government, the outgoing Taoiseach (continuing to act in acaretaker capacity) can seek dissolution of the Dáil and call a new general election. However, this circumstance has not occurred to date.
The last Dáil with a single-party simple majority government was the21st Dáil elected at the1977 general election. Fifteen of the 32 governments in Irish history were minority governments, most of which were formed byFianna Fáil.
Coalitions in the Netherlands are formed with the support from parliamentary parties, elected by proportional representation. Although very rare, minority governments can be formed during theformation period of aDutch cabinet, if an election result makes a majority coalition impossible. More often, a minority government is formed when one of the cabinet's coalition partners withdraws its support, or when all ministers of a given parliamentary party resign. In these cases, thePrime Minister offers the full cabinet's resignation to theDutch Monarch.
At this point, the Monarch may choose to dissolve Parliament and hold a general election. The cabinet continues to serve asdemissionary. A demissionary cabinet is not a minority government but a form ofcaretaker government, enjoying only limited powers until the new Parliament assembles.
If the Monarch does not dissolve Parliament, the remaining cabinet continues as a minority cabinet, in full possession of its powers. It can finish any legislation already before underpreparation, if Parliament passes it by majority vote; this necessitates the support of parties outside the government. Theoretically, early general elections need not be held, but they are often necessary in practice, since thecoalition agreement no longer has parliamentary support.
A third option is available to the Monarch: theformation of a new cabinet of different Parliamentary parties (which may include the defecting coalition partner). Elections are then held as scheduled at the end of the parliamentary term, since the Monarch does not dissolve parliament if aninformateur has been able to negotiate a new coalition agreement.
The Netherlands had a minority government in 2010–2012: theFirst Rutte cabinet. This government was supported in parliament by theParty For Freedom, which all together provided the government a majority.[34] TheSecond Rutte cabinet (2012–2017) consisted of the conservative liberalVVD and the social-democraticPvdA and had a majority in theHouse of Representatives, but a plurality in theSenate. On 11 October 2013, the cabinet reached a budgetary agreement with the social-liberalD66 and the smaller Christian partiesCU andSGP. This provided the VVD/PvdA cabinet a single-seat majority in theSenate (see also:Purple (government)).
As of January 20, 2020 Norway has a minority government. In the beginning of 2019, the Christian Democratic partyKrF joinedErna Solberg's cabinet, that had been ruling with a minority since 2013, to form a majority. On January 20, 2020, the Progress party,FrP, announced that they would withdraw from their role in government, and become an opposition party, despite continuing their support of Erna Solberg as Prime Minister.[35]
Norway has had multiple minority governments throughout history, including cabinets led byJohn Lyng,Kjell Magne Bondevik, andJens Stoltenberg.
In theLegislative Assembly elections held on2nd April 1955, theLF emerged as the single largest party with 10 seats of the 25 seats.David Marshall formed a minority government with the support ofUMNO,MCA, and theMalay Union. Marshall's successorLim Yew Hock led this minority government till its electoral defeat in 1959.
In the elections held on30th May 1959, thePAP led byLee Kuan Yew won in a landslide. They secured 43 of the 51 available seats and trounced the incumbentSPA government of Lim Yew Hock. However, this majority was short-lived. In July 1960, thenMinister for National DevelopmentOng Eng Guan resigned as Minister and from the ruling PAP, along with two other members. This brought PAP's strength to 40. In July 1961, 14 left-wing members of the PAP were expelled for failing to vote for the PAP in a motion of confidence brought by Prime MinisterLee Kuan Yew. This led to PAP's tally in the Assembly to fall to 26 - a one-seat majority. This one-seat majority was lost in July 1962 with one defection to the newly formedBarisan Sosialis. On 16th August 1962, the PAP regained this one-seat majority with a defection fromOng Eng Guan's new createdUPP. This did not last long and five days later, PAP lost its majority when thenMinister for LabourAhmad Ibrahim died suddenly. From then until the1963 election, the PAP governed in the minority with 25 of the 51 seats.
With the PAP winning the 1963 elections with more than a two-thirds majority, and subsequently dominating parliament with the resultant by-elections and general elections, 1963 would mark the last time Singapore witnessed a minority government.
Dzurinda's Second Cabinet (2002-2006) mas a majority government ofSDKÚ,KDH,ANO andSMK. ANO left the cabinet in 2005 while KDH left in 2006. As a result the cabinet continued as a minority cabinet for several months.[36]
Cabinet of Eduard Heger (2021-2023) composed ofOrdinary People and Independent Personalities (OĽaNO),We Are Family,Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), andFor the People lost its majority in September 2022 when SaS left the government. The cabinet lost a no-confidence vote on 15 December 2022 and ruled until it was succeeded by a caretaker government composed of non-party experts led by Ľudovít Ódor on 15 May 2023.
Sweden has had several minority governments, most of the time led by theSwedish Social Democratic Party, with the support of theSocialist Left Party until 2006. Thecentre-rightAlliance, then led by theModerate Party, formed a minority coalition government from 2010 to 2014. The recent minority coalition government is led by theModerate Party, which is supported bySweden Democrats.
A list of minority governments in Turkey:
There have been many occasions since 1900 when a single party has not commanded a parliamentary majority, although the 2010–2015Conservative/Liberal Democratcoalition government was the first formal coalition of its type in Britain since theNational Government between 1931 and 1945.Westminster and the British media tend to perceive minority governments as unstable and ineffective, as they causes problems such as governments lacking the strength to pass legislation, vulnerability to amotion of no confidence and the necessity for acoalition government which would result in policy compromises and a diluted political agenda. Coalition governments could also be viewed as unstable possibly due to examples of minority governments (Callaghan and Major) occurring as the result of governments in decline.[37] Examples of minority governments include:
TheLabour Party, led byHarold Wilson, formed a minority government for seven months after theGeneral Election of February 1974. That situation lasted until the prime minister called another election inOctober that year, following which the Labour Government obtained a small majority of three.[38] The following administration also became a minority government after the collapse of theLib-Lab pact in 1978, and the thenBritish Prime MinisterJames Callaghan's Government fell in March 1979 as the result of avote of no confidence which was carried by a single vote.
A minority Government held power in the UK between December 1996 andthe general election in May 1997. TheConservative Party, led byJohn Major, had won the1992 General Election with an absolute majority of 21 seats over all other parties. That majority was progressively whittled away through defections and by-elections defeat, the most notable of the latter including those inNewbury,South East Staffordshire andWirral South, resulting in the eventual loss of the Major government's majority in Parliament. However, the Conservatives maintained support fromNorthern Ireland'sUlster Unionist Party andDemocratic Unionist Party.
In the2010 General Election, the Conservatives won the most seats and votes, but only a minority of seats in parliament. There was some discussion after the election of the possibility of creating a Conservative minority government and, because the then Prime MinisterGordon Brown had the first opportunity to form a government, there were also talks about creating some sort of alliance between theLabour Party, theLiberal Democrats and the other smaller parties. However Brown waived his right, acknowledging that because the Conservative Party had won the largest number of seats in theHouse of Commons, it should have the first opportunity to form a government. Further discussions then led to theestablishment of a formal coalition between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, which enabled the formation of amajority government, because it was thought that would ensure more stability.
In 2016, Theresa May took over fromDavid Cameron as Prime Minister, after he resigned as a result of theBrexit referendum, when the UK voted to leave the EU. May decided to call asnap election in 2017 to strengthen her hand in the Brexit negotiations. In the2017 General Election, the Conservatives won the most seats and votes but lost their majority in the House of Commons, which instead weakened their hand in the Brexit negotiations. TheConservative Party, led byTheresa May, formed a minority government, with 317 seats, on 9 June 2017. On 10 June, thePrime Minister's Office announced a deal with theDemocratic Unionist Party which would see the DUP support the Conservative government on aconfidence and supply arrangement.[39] However, the DUP later announced that no such deal had been reached.[40] This remained the case until 26 June 2017, whena deal was agreed and announced between the two parties.[41]
After Theresa May resigned in May 2019, Boris Johnson became the new party leader and Prime Minister. For much of theJohnson Ministry up until the2019 general election; the government was a minority government. The suspension of the whip of 21 Conservative MPs on 24 July 2019 resulted in the government being 43 seats short of a working[clarification needed] majority.[42] The government lost several Parliamentary votes in the autumn of 2019 before a general election was called. Johnson gained the Conservatives' biggest majority sinceMargaret Thatcher was Prime Minister in 1987 after the2019 United Kingdom general election, ending this run of minority governments.
After the2007 general election, theScottish National Party led byAlex Salmond formed a minority government in theScottish Parliament.
The SNP had won 47 seats out of 129 in the election, some way short of anabsolute majority of seats in theScottish Parliament, but more than any other single party gained. The SNP were unable to negotiate a majoritycoalition government with any other party, but as no other combination of parties were able to agree on a deal, the SNP chose to form a one-party minority government. They often negotiated withconfidence and supply support from theScottish Green Party and theScottish Conservative Party to pass certain legislation.
After the2016 general election, The SNP won 63 out of 129 seats in theScottish Parliament, losing their governing majority they won in2011, but they went on to form aone-party minority government, led byNicola Sturgeon. Throughout the parliamentary term, they informally co-operated with theScottish Green Party.
Following the2021 general election, theScottish National Party fell one seat short of anoverall majority. They went on to formanother minority government, led byNicola Sturgeon. The SNP then formed acoalition government with theScottish Greens in August 2021, lifting Sturgeon's third government out of minority status.
On 25 April 2024, First MinisterHumza Yousaf suspended thepower sharing agreement with the Scottish Greensresulting in an SNP minority government.
John Swinney won theScottish National Party leadership election and formed a minority government.
After the2007 Assembly election, theWelsh Labour Party led byRhodri Morgan initially formed a minority government in theNational Assembly of Wales. This was because they gained 26 seats in the election, which was short of anabsolute majority of seats in the Assembly. Whilst Labour were initially unable to form a coalition with theLiberal Democrats, a 'Rainbow Coalition' of theConservative Party (UK), Liberal Democrats andPlaid Cymru failed to come to fruition. However, on 6 July 2007, Welsh Labour Party members voted for a coalition with Plaid, which was followed by a similar result from Plaid Cymru members the next day. As a result, the Welsh Assembly was controlled by the Labour-Plaid alliance with Rhodri Morgan as First Minister (up until his retirement in 2009 and subsequent replacement byCarwyn Jones as First Minister) and Plaid LeaderIeuan Wyn Jones as his deputy. After the 2011 Welsh General Election, Welsh Labour won 30 seats and entered into a new government, one seat short of an overall majority. In 2016 Welsh Labour returned with 29 seats out of 30 and formed a government with the one remaining Liberal Democrat AM, again one seat short of an overall majority. Aminority government was also formed following the2021 Senedd election, when Welsh Labour returned 30 seats, half of the legislature's available 60, but one short of a working majority (31), yet no coalition government was formed, with Labour relying onbipartisanship (minimally 1 extra vote from a non-Labour seat) for the passing of any legislation.
