In parliamentary systems, a hung parliament is one in which no one political party has an outright majority, and means it is most commonly equally balanced. This situation is normal in many legislatures with proportional representation such as Germany or Italy, or in legislatures with strong regional parties; in such legislatures the term 'hung parliament' is rarely used. However in majoritarian chambers with weak regional parties, such as the United Kingdom, a hung parliament is a rarity, as in these circumstances one party will usually hold enough seats to form a majority.
A hung parliament will force either a coalition government, a minority government or a dissolution of parliament. Frequent hung parliaments can result in smaller parties staying in power for decades as they switch support between the two or three major parties (this is what happened with the Free Democratic Party in Germany).
The most recent hung parliament after a general election in the United Kingdom was the February 1974 general election, which lasted until the October election that year. Prior to that the last had been the elections of 1951 and 1929. Hung parliaments can also arise when slim government majorities are eroded by by-election defeats and defection of Members of Parliament to opposition parties. This happened in 1996 to the Conservative government of John Major (1990-97) and in 1978 to the Labour government of James Callaghan (later Lord Callaghan of Cardiff) (1976-79).
The current Parliament of Canada (the 40th) is a hung parliament, as was the previous Parliament and the Parliament before that; however, the term is not used in Canada. Instead, the term minority government or minority parliament is used.
Negotiation
A hung Parliament inevitably leads to a period of uncertainty after an election, especially in countries that are not used to it. In the 1974 UK General Election, sitting Prime Minister Edward Heath refused at first to resign, attempting to build a coalition government despite winning fewer seats (though gaining more votes) than the then opposition Labour Party.
Much speculation has gone into whether the Liberal Democrats in the UK would support a Labour government if no party won a majority in the General Election. In such a situation, they could hold the balance of power in that, as the centre party, they could choose to ally with either Labour or the Conservatives to form the next government, or decide to support specific measures of a minority government without entering a formal coalition.
In the Western Australian state election of 2008 the Australian Labor Party won more seats than the Liberal Party at 28 to 24 (although the Liberal Party gained more votes). The National Party along with three independents had the seats needed to give either party a majority. To help the Liberal Party form government the Nationals threw their support behind the party on the condition that the Royalties for Regions policy was implemented.
Working majority
Sometimes although a parliament or assembly may be technically hung, the party in power can have a working majority. Such was the case in the 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. When the Assembly was first elected on 1 May 2003, Labour won 30 seats, Plaid Cymru won 12, the Conservatives won 11, Lib Dems won 6, and the John Marek Independent Party won a seat. When Dafydd Elis-Thomas (Plaid) was reelected as the presiding officer, this reduced the number of opposition AMs who could vote to 29, as the presiding officer only votes in the event of a tie, and even then not on party political lines. Labour, thus, had a working majority of one seat. This was lost when Law ran in Blaenau Gwent.[1]
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