One or multiple governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature
Part of the Politics series
Party politics
Political spectrum
Left-wing
Far-left
Centre-left
Centre
Centre-left
Radical centre
Centre-right
Right-wing
Centre-right
Far-right
Platforms/Ideologies
Anarchist
Christian democratic
Communist
Conservative
Democratic
Environmentalist
Fascist
Fundamentalist
Globalist
Green
Internationalist
Liberal
Libertarian
Nationalist
Pirate Party
Populist
Progressive
Radical
Regionalist
Republican
Social democratic
Socialist
Syncretic
Types
Bloc party
Elite party
Cartel party
Competitive
Catch-all party
Entrepreneurial party
Ethnic party
Mass party
Ruling party
Opposition party
Parliamentary opposition
Official party status
Single-issue party
Transnational / International
Leaders and organization
Backbencher
Caucus
Caucus chair
Frontbencher
Lead candidate
Leader of the Opposition
Majority leader
Minority leader
Political faction
Parliamentary leader
Party chair
Party leader
Party spokesperson
Secretary
Shadow cabinet
Whip
Internal elections
Primary election
Leadership election
Open list
Party convention/conference
Leadership convention
Party discipline
Conscience vote
Crossing the floor
Party discipline
Party line
Party-line vote
Party switching
Party systems
One-party
Dominant-party
Two-party
Multi-party
Non-partisan
Coalitions between parties
Parliamentary group
Divided government
Coalition government
Confidence and supply
Consensus government
Grand coalition
Hung parliament
Majority government
Minority government
National unity government
Rotation government
Lists of political parties
Ruling parties by country
Political parties by region
Banned political parties
Politics portal
v
t
e
A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. Such a government can consist of one party that holds a majority on its own, or be a coalition government of multiple parties. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the government doesn't have a majority, and needs to cooperate with opposition parties to get legislation passed. A government majority determines the balance of power.[1] A government is not a majority government if it only has a majority when counting parties outside the government that have a confidence agreement with it.
A majority government is usually assured of having its legislation passed and rarely if ever, has to fear being defeated in parliament, a state also known as a working majority.[2] In contrast, a minority government must constantly bargain for support from other parties in order to pass legislation and avoid being defeated on motions of no confidence. Single-party majority governments tend to be formed in the aftermath of strong election performances.
The term "majority government" may also be used for a stable long-term coalition of two or more parties to form an absolute majority. One example of such an electoral coalition is in Australia, where the Liberal and National parties have run as an electoral bloc, known simply as the Coalition, for decades. The Coalition is the only party or coalition in Australia to have won at least 90 of the 151 seats in the House of Representatives at a federal election (this has happened three times, in 1975, in 1996 and 2013). The largest majority government in Australia was elected in 1975, when the Coalition won 71.65% of the seats in a landslide victory.
In electoral systems where one party usually wins a majority of seats on their own, such as first past the post, coalitions are rare, but may happen when an election returns a hung parliament. An example of this was the 2010–2015 coalition government in the United Kingdom, which was composed of the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats. The Conservatives won the most seats of any single party in the 2010 election, but fell short of an absolute majority. However, by combining with the Liberal Democrats a solid majority in the House of Commons was created. This was the first true coalition government in the UK since World War II.
Majority government differs from consensus government or national unity government in not requiring a consensus or supermajority.
^"Government majority". www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk. 20 December 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
^Definition from AllWords
and 26 Related for: Majority government information
A majoritygovernment is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. Such a government can...
parties may be limited. A majoritygovernment is a government by one or more governing parties together holding an absolute majority of seats in the parliament...
absolute majority of seats in parliament necessary to have a majority in the government, whereas minority coalition governments do not hold the majority of...
a majority of overall seats in the legislature. It is sworn into office, with or without the formal support of other parties, enabling a government to...
forming a minority government, before going on to win the 2011 Parliament election, after which it formed Holyrood's first majoritygovernment. After Scotland...
leader Narendra Modi formed the first non-Congress single party majoritygovernment. Modi has served as prime minister since. Key No.: Incumbent number...
remain in government with the SNP, which saw Yousaf's administration continue with the Bute House agreement, a pro-independence majoritygovernment. His cabinet...
long as their government has the confidence of a majority in the House of Commons of Canada under the system of responsible government. Under this system...
the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body. In the federal Congress of the United States, the roles of the House majority leader...
The silent majority is an unspecified large group of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly. The term was popularized...
first elected federal majoritygovernment, Australia's first elected Senate majority, the world's first Labour Party majoritygovernment at a national level...
vote-winning majorities. Constitutions typically require consensus or supermajority. A consensus government is a national unity government with representation...
A supermajority (also called supra-majority, supramajority, qualified majority, or special majority) is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified...
prime minister to win four elections (having won three majoritygovernments and one minority government) and to serve two non-consecutive terms. His tenure...
them reduced to a minority government, having lost francophone support to the surging ADQ. However, the party regained a majority in the 2008 election, which...
its parliamentary majority in the election of 1985, there were no majoritygovernments in Norway until the second Stoltenberg government was formed after...
majoritygovernment in the 2015 federal election. In both the federal elections of 2019 and 2021, the party was re-elected with a minority government...
Party in a second majoritygovernment. Mulroney was the party's first leader since John A. Macdonald to win a second majoritygovernment, although in 1988...
The Moral Majority was an American political organization and movement associated with the Christian right and the Republican Party in the United States...
elected to its fourth consecutive majoritygovernment, a feat not achieved since the CCF led five majoritygovernments between 1944 and 1964. This success...
fourth and most recent being Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's full majoritygovernment in the 2012-2017 Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly. The coalition...
receiving over 50 percent of the popular vote. He later won a second majoritygovernment in 1988. Mulroney's tenure as prime minister was marked by the introduction...
PCs lost power in 2003; however, they came back into power with a majoritygovernment in 2018 under Doug Ford. The first Conservative Party in Upper Canada...
party governed with two minority governments after the federal elections of 2006 and 2008. It then won a majoritygovernment in the 2011 federal election...
ministries were either from the majority Croatian Democratic Union or soon defected to it. Estonia had national unity governments during the Estonian War of...
system in federal politics and allowed him to form Australia's first majoritygovernment. Deakin regarded his final term as prime minister, from June 1909...