Hung parliament

The House of Commons of the United Kingdom after the February 1974 election. It is an example of a hung parliament. The Labour government (bottom) does not have a majority of seats, so it is a hung parliament. They did not make any agreement with other parties, so they had to start a minority government.

A hung parliament (also called a balanced parliament, or as a legislature under no overall control) is when no political party (or coalition that existed before) has a majority in the Westminster system of legislatures. If this isn't solved with something like a confidence and supply agreement or a new coalition, the largest party will have to form a minority government. This is bad because they can easily lose a vote of no confidence, so a government is hard to run.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

Hung Parliament Media

The House of Representatives elected in 2010, with a 72–72 tie between the Labor Party and the Opposition Coalition.
The 45th Canadian Parliament elected in the 2025 Canadian federal election resulted in Canada's most recent (and current) minority parliament.
The 8th Republican Parliament of Fiji, elected in 2022, is the incumbent parliament and the country's most recent hung parliament.
9th National Assembly of France, elected in 1988, was France's first hung parliament since 1958.
16th National Assembly of France, elected in 2022, is France's second hung parliament since 1958.
The 17th National Assembly of France, the incumbent national assembly, is a hung parliament.
18th Lok Sabha, elected in 2024, was India's last hung parliament.
The House of Commons following the 2017 general election. No party had a majority.