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Arotation government oralternation government is one of the ways of forming of agovernment in aparliamentary state. It is a government that, during its term, will see the individual holding the post ofprime minister switch (or "rotate"), whether within the same political bloc or as part of agrand coalition.Israel has seen by far the most experience with such a governing arrangement. The government ofIreland is now in its second rotation agreement. Usually, this alternation is guided byconstitutional convention with tactical resignation of the first officeholder to allow the second to form a new government.Israel, which established the rotation mechanism in 1984, codified it in 2020.
As of 2021[update], rotation governments have been formed in Ireland, Israel,Malaysia,North Macedonia,Romania, andTurkey. Successful rotations have only taken place in Israel (first with the rotation betweenShimon Peres andYitzhak Shamir, and second with the ascension ofYair Lapid to the office of thePrime Minister of Israel on 1 July 2022, fulfilling the agreement of hiscoalition government), Ireland (withLeo Varadkar returning asTaoiseach in December 2022) and Romania (with the rotation betweenNicolae Ciucă andMarcel Ciolacu in June 2023); in all other cases, either the rotation has not yet taken place or the government has collapsed before it could occur. A rotation government was considered after the2005 German federal election.
The Denkov Government is the 102nd cabinet of Bulgaria. It was approved by the parliament on 6 June 2023, and is a majority coalition ofGERB andPP–DB.It is set to be a rotation government, where PP–DB'sNikolai Denkov would start with the premiership, with GERB'sMariya Gabriel serving as deputy prime minister, and after nine months, the two would switch positions.[1] On March 3rd, Nikolai Denkov resigned the premiership.[2] On 20 March 2024, the planned government rotation and signing of a renewed government manifest for the next nine months had failed.[3][4][5] A call for further negotiations to attempt rescuing the failed rotation agreement,[6] was left unmet during March 20-21;[7][8] but a last final negotiation round began on March 22.[9] The two partiesGERB andMovement for Rights and Freedoms concluded on March 24, that the latest negotiation round now also had failed, leaving thePresident of Bulgaria no other choice than forsnap elections to be called.[10][11]
TheBulgarian constitution declares that after a first failed attempt of government formation, thePresident must then ask the second-largest party in parliament (PP–DB) to try and form a government; and if this second attempt also fails he shall then give a final third attempt to any remaining party of his choosing.[12] If all three stages of negotiations fail, it is likely that elections would be held on 9 June 2024, coinciding with theEuropean Parliament election on the same day.[13]
PP–DB declared on 26 March, that they would accept giving a second negotiation mandate a try, but it would be limited to a negotiation attempt to form a government together with GERB–SDS that fully respected their original rotation agreement of 2023. The proposed negotiation framework would be for GERB–SDS to sign the reform agreement negotiated with PP–DB, while GERB–SDS nominates a mutually acceptable next Prime Minister, and the current structure of the cabinet has to be preserved. If GERB–SDS by a written letter refused this PP–DB proposal, the second negotiation mandate would immediately be returned unfulfilled to the President.[14] A few hours later, GERB–SDS refused this proposal and called for early elections.[15]
On 29 March, the Bulgarian PresidentRumen Radev, announced after having concluded a further second and third failed attempt to form a government among the elected parties, that he would now appointDimitar Glavchev as a new caretaker prime minister, and meet with him on 30 March to hand over an instruction to form a caretaker government tasked to organize anew early election.[16]
On 5 April, Dimitar Glavchev presented his proposal for the caretaker government,[17] and after consultations being held the same day on whether it could be approved by the representatives of all political parties from the 49th National Assembly,[18] the President announced he would sign a decree on 9 April 2024 approving the caretaker PM and his caretaker government, and at the same time he would sign a decree setting the date fornew early elections on 9 June 2024.[19]
In the writings ofDiodorus and theBibliotheca of Pseudo-Apollodorus,Oedipus's sonsEteocles andPolynices agreed to share the kingship ofThebes, switching each year. When Eteocles's first year as king ended, he refused to give up the kingship, exiling Polynices, who found allies inArgos to retake the city, recounted in the events ofSeven Against Thebes.[20]
After the2005 German federal election, a rotation government between theCDU and theSPD was considered; under it, then-incumbent SPDChancellorGerhard Schröder would have continued to serve until 2007, at which point the CDU'sAngela Merkel would take over for the remaining two years. The CDU rejected this and opted for agrand coalition without rotation, with Merkel holding the Chancellery for the entire term.[21]
After the2020 Irish general election a coalition ofFianna Fáil,Fine Gael and theGreen Party was formed on 27 June 2020 on the basis of a rotation government.Micheál Martin of Fianna Fáil becameTaoiseach with an agreement thatLeo Varadkar of Fine Gael would serve as his deputy (Tánaiste) until December 2022, when he would become Taoiseach.[22] The rotation took place on 17 December 2022, with Varadkar sworn in for his second non-consecutive term as Taoiseach, and Martin taking the role of Tánaiste.[23]
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Israel was the first country to employ a rotation government (Hebrew:ממשלת רוטציהmemshelet rotatzia)in 1984, following the negotiations for the forming of agrand coalition government after the inconclusive1984 election. The 1984 rotation deal was non-binding; de jure, the rotation government was two successive governments,one formed in 1984 and headed byAlignment'sShimon Peres andanother formed in 1986 and headed byLikud'sYitzhak Shamir, but whose membership and portfolio distribution were otherwise identical.[24] In addition, since the 1984 rotation government was formally two "ordinary" governments, the prime minister could unilaterally dismiss ministers from the alternate prime minister's bloc: In fact,Shimon Peres forced the Likud finance minister,Yitzhak Moda'i, to resign, despite Shamir's objections.[25]
In the2015 Israeli legislative election, theZionist Union originally floated the idea of forming an intra-party rotation government between its co-leadersIsaac Herzog andTzipi Livni, in which Herzog would serve for the first two years and Livni for the second two,[26] though Livni announced on 16 March 2015 that only Herzog would serve as prime minister of a Zionist Union-led government.[27]
The idea of a rotation-based grand coalition again took hold during the2019–2022 Israeli political crisis and the negotiations for the forming of the35th Israeli government after the elections to the23rd Knesset, but unlike in 1984, broad changes in theBasic Law: The Government were made to establish a legally-binding rotation, under a mechanism known as an "alternation government" (Hebrew:ממשלת חילופיםmemshelet chilufim). Under these changes, the initial prime minister's term automatically expires when the rotation time comes and he swaps positions with thealternate prime minister, without the need to form ade jure new government. Under the law, the alternate prime minister's status is legally entrenched - for example, the prime minister must obtain the approval of the alternate prime minister before removing ministers from the latter's bloc.
The first official alternation government was the35th Israeli government, with the rotation being made between theLikud (Benjamin Netanyahu) andBlue and White (Benny Gantz).[28][29] The two parties identified the rotation deal as a central part of their coalition agreement.[29] TheHigh Court of Justice heard a petition (brought by theMovement for Quality Government,Meretz, and others) challenging the Basic Law authorizing rotation agreements, but a nine-justice panel decided in 2021 that such agreements do "not amount to the denial of thebasic democratic characteristics of the State of Israel" and that the judiciary thus could not intervene.[29]
Under the agreement, Netanyahu was prime minister and Gantz was alternate prime minister. The two were to swap positions on November 17, 2021, after Netanyahu spent 18 months as PM.[29][30] However, the scheduled rotation never occurred, because the government collapsed after six months, after Netanyahu maneuvered to sink the passage of the 2020 state budget, triggeringnew elections in March 2021; the move blocked Gantz from becoming PM.[30][31]
The36th Israeli government, a broad-based coalition government of eight parties formed after the2021 Israeli legislative election, oustedBenjamin Netanyahu as prime minister. As part of the coalition agreement, the parties agreed thatYamina'sNaftali Bennett would serve as prime minister of Israel for two years starting in 2021, whileYesh Atid'sYair Lapid was named asalternate prime minister and would take over as PM for two years starting in September 2023.[32][33] After the coalition lost its majority, leading to its collapse, Bennett and Lapid announcednew elections (the fifth Israeli elections in four years) on November 1, 2022.[34][35] The Knesset formally dissolved on 30 June 2022;[36] on the same day, in accordance with the 2021 agreement, Lapid became prime minister, serving in acaretaker capacity until the elections four months later.[37][38][39]
In an alternation government, as established by the 2020 amendments to Basic Law: The Government, the alternate prime minister is an office held either by a member of the Knesset who is designated to serve as prime minister later in a government or a member of the Knesset who has already served as the prime minister earlier in a government and has since rotated out of that position. The incumbent prime minister and alternate prime minister are sworn in together.
In the following cases, the alternate prime minister will replace the incumbent prime minister:
The law stipulates that "the number of ministers identified as having an affinity for the prime minister will be equal to the number of ministers who are identified as having an affinity for the alternate prime minister; However, if the number of ministers shall not be equal, the government will establish a voting mechanism according to which the voting power of all the prime minister-affiliated ministers shall be equal to the voting power of all the alternate-prime minister-affiliated ministers, or rules on how decisions will be taken to ensure such a ratio." The alternate-prime minister shall be acting prime minister.[40]
Some of the clauses in Basic Law: The Government dealing with the incumbent prime minister will also apply to the alternate prime minister, includingClause 18 (d), which stipulates that the prime minister's term expires upon his conviction in a final judgment on an offense in which he is infamous. The Basic Law stipulates that when the prime minister is convicted as aforesaid, the alternate prime minister will replace him, and when the alternate prime minister is convicted as aforesaid, the government will not be deemed to have resigned.
In the campaign for the2018 Malaysian general election, the then-oppositionPakatan Harapan announced that, if a PH-led government would be formed,Mahathir Mohamad would initially serve as its Prime Minister and secure a pardon for jailed opposition leaderAnwar Ibrahim, and that the premiership would be subsequently yielded to Anwar Ibrahim after his release.[41][42] While Anwar Ibrahim was released from prison on 16 May 2018, the planned rotation did not happen by the time ofthe collapse of the Mahathir-formed government on 1 March 2020.
In the campaign for the2020 North Macedonian parliamentary election, theDemocratic Union for Integration made its participation in any coalition contingent on the nominee for Prime Minister being anethnic Albanian, which both theSocial Democratic Union of Macedonia andVMRO-DPMNE have refused. On 18 August, the SDSM and DUI announced that they had reached a deal on a coalition government as well as a compromise on the issue of an ethnic Albanian Prime Minister. Under the deal, SDSM leaderZoran Zaev will be installed as prime minister, and will serve in that position until no later than 100 days from the next parliamentary elections. At that time, the BDI will propose an ethnic Albanian candidate for Prime Minister, and if both parties agree on the candidate, that candidate will serve out the remaining term until the elections.[43][44]
TheCiucă Cabinet is the first rotation government which took power inRomania, of which members are thePSD,PNL andUDMR.[45] The government took power in 2021 withNicolae Ciucă of PNL asPrime Minister,[46] with a successful rotation between the PNL and the PSD in 2023, after whichMarcel Ciolacu'sgovernment took power, which would lead Romania until thenext legislative elections.[47]
The53rd government of Turkey was planned to be a rotation government between theTrue Path Party (DYP) andMotherland Party (ANAP), with the premiership alternating between the two parties every year.[48] The vote of confidence was declared invalid by the Constitutional Court as an absolute majority of deputies was not obtained.
The54th government of Turkey was planned to be a rotation government between theWelfare Party (RP) and DYP. Initially,Necmettin Erbakan of RP was the prime minister andTansu Çiller of DYP was the deputy prime minister, with the rotation between the two taking place in 1997. When Erbakan resigned to ensure the rotation would take place, presidentSüleyman Demirel appointedMesut Yılmaz of ANAP as the new prime minister instead.[49]