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Dissolution of parliament
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In parliamentary systems, a dissolution of parliament is the dispersal of a legislature at the call of an election.
Usually there is a maximum length of a legislature, and a dissolution must happen before the maximum time. Early dissolutions are allowed in many jurisdictions.
Commonwealth
The House of Representatives, but not the Senate, can be dissolved at any time by the Governor-General. The House expires 3 years after its first meeting if not earlier dissolved.
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Encyclopedia
In parliamentary systems, a dissolution of parliament is the dispersal of a legislature at the call of an election.
Usually there is a maximum length of a legislature, and a dissolution must happen before the maximum time. Early dissolutions are allowed in many jurisdictions.
Commonwealth
The House of Representatives, but not the Senate, can be dissolved at any time by the Governor-General. The House expires 3 years after its first meeting if not earlier dissolved. The Senate can be dissolved by the Governor-General only when the double dissolution provisions are invoked, in which case the House of Representatives is also dissolved at the same time. There exists a convention that the Governor-General only orders a dissolution on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Victoria
Unlike the Commonwealth Parliament, the Premier and Governor of Victoria have very little discretion in dissolving the Victorian Parliament. Both the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council are dissolved automatically twenty-five days before the last Saturday in November every four years. However, the Governor can dissolve the Legislative Assembly if a motion of no confidence in the Premier and the other Ministers of State is passed and no motion of confidence is passed within the next week. Finally, the Premier can advise the Governor to dissolve both houses in the case of a deadlocked bill.
The House of Commons, but not the Senate, can be dissolved at any time by the Governor General, conventionally on the advice of the Prime Minister. If the government is refused confidence or supply, the Prime Minister must either resign and permit another member of the House of Commons to form a government, or else advise the Governor-General to dissolve Parliament. Also, the House of Commons automatically dissolves after five years, although no House of Commons has yet survived that long.
The Provincial legislatures may also be dissolved at any time for the same reasons, by the Lieutenant-Governor on the advice of the Premier. British Columbia, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, and The Northwest Territories have established fixed election dates.
The French National Assembly can be dissolved by the French President at any time after he consulted the Prime Minister and the presidents of the two chambres of parliament. The National Assembly elected following such a dissolution cannot be dissolved within the first year of its term.
According to the German constitution, the Bundestag can be dissolved by the federal president if the Chancellor loses a vote of confidence, or if a newly elected Bundestag proves unable to elect a chancellor with absolute majority. The second possibility has never occurred yet but the Bundestag has been dissolved in 1972, 1982, and 2005 when the then-ruling chancellors Brandt, Kohl, and Schröder deliberately lost votes of confidence in order that there could be fresh elections. On the last two occasions the decree of dissolution was challenged
without success before the Constitutional Court.
The second federal legislative body, the Bundesrat, cannot be dissolved.
Dáil Éireann (the Irish House of Representatives) can be dissolved by the President if there is a vote of no confidence in the Taoiseach. If the Taoiseach advises that the Dáil be dissolved, though, the President is not obliged to follow that advice; he can choose to invite the opposition leader to form a government. The president must dissolve the Dáil at any time when asked to do so by a Taoiseach who enjoys the confidence of the Dáil. This usually happens when the Dáil has neared the end of its five-year term, precipitating a general election. The President may also dissolve the Dáil if they can not choose a Taoiseach, though this has never yet occurred.
One feature of the Irish system is that although the Dáil is dissolved, Seanad Éireann (the Irish Senate) is not, and may continue to meet during an election campaign for the Dáil. However as many members of the Seanad are typically involved in election campaigns for the Dáil, the Seanad does not typically meet often, if at all, once the Dáil is dissolved. A general election for the Seanad must take place within 90 days of the election of the new Dáil.
The House of Representatives, but not the House of Councillors, can be dissolved at any time by the Emperor on the advice of the Prime Minister.
The Parliament can be dissolved or prorogued at any time in its 3-year term by the Governor-General, usually on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister may ask the monarch to dissolve Parliament at any time, though it must be dissolved five years after the first sitting of parliament following the last general election as that is the maximum term a parliament may sit by virtue of the Septennial Act 1715, as amended by the Parliament Act 1911, which reduced the Septennial Act's seven-year limit.
The time for which Parliament can sit without dissolution can be extended with the approval of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords; however, legislation to extend the life of parliament is the sole matter over which the Lords still retain a veto.
Scottish Parliament
Under the Scotland Act 1998, ordinary general elections for the Scottish Parliament are held on the first Thursday in May every four years (1999, 2003, 2007 etc.) The date of the poll may be varied by up to one month either way by the monarch on the proposal of the Presiding Officer.
If the Parliament itself resolves that it should be dissolved (with at least two-thirds of the Members voting in favour), or if the Parliament fails to nominate one of its members to be First Minister within certain time limits, the Presiding Officer proposes a date for an extraordinary general election and the Parliament is dissolved by the monarch by royal proclamation.
National Assembly for Wales
Under the Government of Wales Act 2006, ordinary general elections for the National Assembly are held on the first Thursday in May every four years.
According to the Romanian Constitution, voted in 1991 and revised in 2003, the President may dissolve the Parliament only if the Parliament rejects two consecutive candidates proposed by the President for the function of Prime Minister. Both houses can be dissolved. No dissolution of the Parliament has taken place in Romania since 1991.
The dissolution of the Italian parliament (which last, accordingly to the 1948 Constitution, 5 years) and the calling of new general election is made by the President of the Republic, although the parliament may be extended by ordinary legislation.
Since the Italian President is a no-responsible institutional figure, the actual power of dissolution is practically in the hand of the Government (for example in 2005 the former president of the Council of Ministes, Silvio Berlusconi decided the date of elections instead of the president of the Republic).
Under , the President of the Russian Federation may dissolve the State Duma if it either expresses no confidence in the Government or rejects his proposed candidate for Prime Minister three times. The power to dissolve the Duma was not exercised under the current constitution of 1993. Before the new constitution was enacted, President Boris Yeltsin had dissolved the Supreme Soviet during the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993, although he did not have the formal constitutional powers to do so.
See also
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