No-confidence vote

A legislative vote declaring that a government or minister no longer commands the confidence of the legislature. In parliamentary systems, defeat can require resignation or trigger an election.

Parliamentary confidence: The political support a government must retain from a legislature to remain in office. The vote tests whether this support still exists.
Impeachment: A formal process for charging and potentially removing a public official for misconduct. Unlike a confidence vote, impeachment concerns legal or constitutional wrongdoing rather than political support.
1979 United Kingdom motion of no confidence: The House of Commons vote that ended James Callaghan’s government by a margin of one vote. It is a prominent modern example of a government falling after a confidence motion.
Fixed-term parliament: A legislature whose election date is set in advance, subject to specified early-election rules. Fixed terms can limit the link between losing confidence and calling an election.
Constructive vote of no confidence: A no-confidence procedure that removes a head of government only when a successor is elected at the same time. It replaces ordinary removal with a requirement to agree on a replacement.
Responsible government: A system in which the executive is politically accountable to the elected legislature. The confidence principle is a central mechanism of this constitutional arrangement.
Constructive vote of no confidence in Germany: Germany’s constitutional procedure for replacing a chancellor only by electing a successor in the same Bundestag vote. It demonstrates how a country can make government removal depend on an agreed alternative.
Presidential system: A system in which a separately elected president leads the executive for a fixed term. Presidents generally do not depend on legislative confidence to remain in office.
Dissolution of parliament: The formal ending of a legislature’s term, usually followed by a general election. Some systems let the government seek an election after losing confidence.
Glorious Revolution: The 1688–1689 change of regime in England that strengthened Parliament’s authority over the Crown. It belongs to the constitutional history behind parliamentary control of government.

Linked from 13 pages