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Politics & Government vocabulary · Government and the Executive

Minority government

Meaning in politics & government, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In politics & government, minority government means: A government formed by a party or coalition that does not have a majority of seats in parliament and depends on support from other parties to pass laws.

In Turkish: azınlık hükümeti

How it is used

Used when no party wins a majority, a situation called a hung parliament in British English. A minority government may make a confidence-and-supply agreement with another party, which promises to support it on key votes such as the budget.

Example sentences

  1. The minority government needs the votes of at least one other party to pass the budget.

  2. Minority governments can last for years if they negotiate carefully with other parties.

Common collocations

  • form a minority government
  • lead a minority government
  • hung parliament
  • confidence-and-supply agreement
  • coalitionAn arrangement in which two or more political parties agree to work together, especially to form a government when no single party has a majority.
  • majorityThe larger part of a group, especially more than half of the seats in parliament or of the votes cast; also the number by which the winner is ahead of the others.
  • vote of no confidenceA vote in parliament to decide whether the government or a minister still has the support of a majority; if the government loses it, it may have to resign.
  • governmentThe group of people who run a country at a given time, led by a prime minister or president; more broadly, the system and institutions through which a state is governed.

More terms: Government and the Executive

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