A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a minority parliament. In bicameral parliaments, the term relates to the situation in the chamber whose confidence is considered most crucial.
In general, a minority government tends to be less stable than a majority government, because the opposition can always bring down the government with a simple vote of no confidence.
Read more about Minority Government: Coalitions and Alliances
Famous quotes containing the words minority and/or government:
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)
“... it were impossible for a people to be more completely identified with their government than are the Americans. In considering it, they seem to feel, “It is ours, we have created it, and we support it; it exists for our protection and service; it lives as the breath of our mouths; and, while it answers the ends for which we decreed it, so long shall it stand, and nought shall prevail against it.””
—Frances Wright (1795–1852)