Hung parliament
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Template:Mergeto In Parliamentary systems, a hung parliament is one in which no one political party has an outright majority. This situation is normal in many legislatures with proportional representation such as Germany and Italy, or in legislatures with strong regional parties. In first past the post chambers with weak regional parties, it is a rarity, as the voting system under-represents the minor parties and over-represents the larger ones.
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.
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 election of 1929. Hung parliaments can also arise when slim government majorities are eroded by by-election defeats and defection of MPs to opposition parties. This happened in 1996 to the Conservative government of Sir John Major (1990-97) and in 1978 to the Labour government of Lord Callaghan (1976-79).
The current Parliament of Canada is a hung parliament; however, the term is not used in Canada. Instead, the term 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 less seats 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 would be "kingmakers", in that they could choose the next government.