A hung parliament is a situation where no party controls an absolute majority of seats in a parliamentary legislature. It usually happens to systems that are founded on the Westminster system. This does not allow automatic construction of a stable government by any party because no party has an automatic majority of the seats. This usually is 50 percent, plus one seat; i.e., in the 650-member House of Commons of the UK, a party would require at least 326 MPs to provide a certain majority. This is also referred to as a balanced parliament or, in other cases, as a parliament that was elected with no overall control (local government in the United Kingdom).
Hung cabinets result in coalition or minority cabinets, and these regimes depend on agreements with independents or some other small party to maintain that confidence and to have the legislative stability required to govern and get essential legislation passed, like budgets. Hung parliaments are not unusual in multiparty systems because hung parliaments occur not infrequently, when in a multiparty system the votes of the electorate are split amongst so many parties that no party has a dominant majority. In two-party systems, this is less common, and exceptions may happen, e.g., by smaller parties gaining sufficient seats or the larger parties splitting the vote in decisive regions.
A hung parliament is expected to form the government
A hung parliament exists when there is no one party with an absolute majority of the available seats in the legislature. Under such cases, effective government can be set by the following options:
Coalition government: A coalition government allows two or more parties to negotiate in a bid to pool their seats. This involves the determination of shared policies and the appointment of ministerial duties. Although coalitions offer fairer rulings, they are also based on compromises and collaboration with all involved parties.
Minority government: This happens when no party has a majority; then the minority must work with the small parties or the independents in order to enact important laws and pass confidence votes. This solution is not so good, and this mechanism always presupposes case-by-case referrals.
Snap elections: In the event of an impasse after the parties have failed to reach a governing coalition, the president, who is the head of state, can dissolve the parliament and hold early elections.
Creating a government in a hung parliament is basically a negotiation and alliance-building process to win the confidence of the legislature by seeking their support on a coalition or issue-by-issue basis.
This 2-phase process indicates that there is a plastic reaction to political partitionedness, and the capacity of parliament to operate has not been lost.
Historical examples
Hung parliaments have been experienced in the UK on several occasions, some of which are as follows:
There was no majority in February 1974. Even though Labour won 301 seats, they still needed 17 to achieve a majority. However, the Conservative Party’s prime minister, Edward Heath, stepped down, as he could not form a coalition with the liberals. Harold Wilson called a minority government before Labour.
May 2010: The election led to a hung parliament situation in which the Liberal Democrats had 57, Labour 258, and the Conservatives 306. The Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats made the very first coalition government in the United Kingdom since World War II, to the extent of negotiations.
June 2017: The Conservatives had again emerged as the largest party; however, that did not provide the party with a majority in this hung parliament. With the help of a deal with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the Conservatives, who are led by Theresa May, got a minority government.
Besides these, other hung parliaments have been experienced in the UK, where the first-past-the-post voting system was used in 1910, 1922, 1928 and 1931, as well as midterm majority losses, like the case of the private school tie Conservatives of the 1970s with the James Callaghan Labor government and the case of the private school tie Conservatives of 1996 and 1997 with Major John.
There have also been important hung parliaments external to the UK in:
France: After the legislative elections in 1988 and 2022, hung parliaments were formed. It would take the creation of some minority administrations in the year 1988 through informal coalitions and confidence pacts.
India: Hung assemblies (parliaments) are common; invariably, this leads to coalition or minority governments; new elections might also be called in the event of an inability to form a government. 1989 was the year when a national parliament was hung.
These cases indicate how, depending upon what political compromises and constitutional arrangements are made, hung parliaments may lead either to coalitions, to minority governments, or to new elections.
Causes of hung parliaments
The major causes of a hung parliament are due to political, electoral, and social factors that do not allow any particular party to have an absolute majority of the seats in any legislature. Some of the core reasons are:
Splintered electorate and multi-party systems: The multi-party systems make it very challenging to win an absolute majority of the seats by way of voter fragmentation that is distributed among multiple parties, as opposed to voter concentration among one or two parties. This kind of fragmentation is more common in those democracies that have multiple parties or instances where smaller parties have a following of considerable size.
Voting systems: The nature of the voting system is an important feature. In most cases, governments are commonly generated through the first-past-the-post (FPTP) electoral systems, though they may lead to hung parliaments in the event of heightened political fragmentation.
Expansion of regional and small parties: There is a risk of them gaining ground as minor or regional parties or single-issue parties, leading to the declining proportion of their seats so that none of the larger parties can reach the majority.
Split voting can occur when voters intentionally and strategically vote for coalition parties multiple times, or even vote strategically to block the election of one of the parties, increasing the number of parties that will split the vote.
The political landscape is changing as a result of growing political polarization, changes in public sentiment, and voters’ discontent with established parties. This can create room for several competitors and make majorities challenging to achieve.
Effects and challenges
The impacts of such a hung parliament exist in many ways and are political, economic, and to an extent, democratic and governmental.
Political instability: Coalition governments or governments dependent upon the support of small parties, which could cut or alter their support at any time, are highly likely to be the direct result of hung parliaments. Due to this volatility, long-term policy planning could also prove challenging, and a loss of integrity of public trust could be possible. It may be hard to maintain power and resist no-confidence motions, and hence, frequent transfers in the government may happen, or early elections may be called by either the coalition or minority government.
A lot of compromise and discussion is necessary between parties in the running of a hung parliament. Although this may slow down decision-making, it may further lead to a more inclusive policymaking method that allows for consideration of alternative points of view and broader consensual politics.
Economic and market uncertainty: In the case of a lack of a stable, solid majority administration, markets and investors can be uncertain. As an example, the election of a hung parliament in India in 2004 resulted in a sharp decline in the stock market. Adequate governance is likely to be desirable when planning entails trading, commerce, and investment.
The part and impact of smaller parties in spheres where a hung parliament is possible, minor or regional or single-issue parties can gain disproportionate power and influence over government legislation and government formation, and even gain concessions that make government difficult.
Policy gridlock risks: The risk of including absolute majorities cannot be ensured, and thus, the government may lack the ease of passing bills, straining the legislative work, or making it easier to weaken policies.
Democratic representation: Hung parliaments are less dominated by one party and are in a position to reflect more diverse and democratic representation through the provision of alternatives in terms of the prevailing public opinion. This can bring about more inclusiveness and also more complicated political dynamics. Real defection by parties can also destabilize the hung parliaments further; in some parliamentary systems (including in India), the government can tend to fall, and in some, democratic principles must be compromised.
Constitutional and institutional roles: The roles of identifying coalitions, monitoring votes of confidence, and maintaining constitutional values are just some of the important roles that can be played by the head of state and the legislative representatives, as well as the speakers of such a parliament, to contain a hung parliament situation.