Motion of no confidence

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A motion of no confidence (alternatively vote of no confidence, censure motion, no-confidence motion, or (unsuccessful) confidence motion) is a statement or vote which states that a person in a superior position—be it government, managerial, etc.—is no longer deemed fit to hold that position. This may be based on said person falling short in some respect, failing to carry out obligations, or making choices that other members feel are detrimental. As a parliamentary motion, it demonstrates to the head of state that the elected parliament no longer has confidence in (one or more members of) the appointed government.

A censure motion is different from a no-confidence motion. "No Confidence" leads to compulsory resignation of the council of ministers whereas "Censure" is meant to show disapproval and does not result in the resignation of ministers. The censure motion can be against an individual minister or a group of ministers, but the no-confidence motion is directed against the entire council of ministers. Censure motions need to state the reasons for the motion while no-confidence motions do not require reasons to be specified.


There are a number of variations in this procedure. A motion of no confidence in some countries can be proposed in the government collectively or by any individual member, including the Prime Minister. In Spain it is presented by the Prime Minister after consultation. Sometimes motions of no confidence are proposed, even though they have no likelihood of passage, simply to pressure a government or to embarrass its own critics who nevertheless for political reasons consider not to vote against it.

Parliamentary systems[edit]

In many parliamentary democracies, strict time limits exist as to the proposing of a no confidence motion, with a vote only allowed once every three, four or six months. Thus knowing when to use a motion of no confidence is a matter of political judgement; using a motion of no confidence on a relatively trivial matter may prove counterproductive to its proposer if a more important issue suddenly arises which warrants a motion of no confidence, because a motion cannot be proposed if one had been voted on recently and cannot be proposed again for a number of months. Sometimes, the government will choose to declare that one of its bills is a "motion of confidence" in order to prevent dissident members of parliament from voting against it.

United Kingdom[edit]

In the Westminster system, the defeat of a supply bill (one that concerns the spending of money) is seen to require the resignation of the government or dissolution of Parliament, much like a non-confidence vote, since a government that cannot spend money is hamstrung, also called loss of supply. When the upper house of a Westminster system country has the right to refuse supply, such as in Australia during the events of 1975, the convention is in a grey area as Westminster governments are not normally expected to maintain the confidence of the upper house.

In the British Parliament, a no-confidence motion generally first appears as an early day motion, although the vote on the Queen's Speech also constitutes a confidence motion.[1]


In India, a Motion of No Confidence can be introduced only in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of the Parliament of India). The motion is admitted for discussion when a minimum of fifty members of the house support the motion.[2] If the motion carries, the house debates and votes on the motion. If a majority of the members of the house vote in favour of the motion, the motion is passed and the Government is bound to vacate the office.[3][4]


In Italy,[5] the government requires the support of both houses of the Parliament. A vote of no confidence may be proposed if one tenth of the members of a single house sign the proposition and starting from three days before the appointed date, said vote can be brought into discussion. Following the case of Filippo Mancuso in 1995 and the subsequent Constitutional Court sentence in 1996,[6] it is possible to propose an individual vote of no confidence against a single minister instead of the whole government.


In Germany,[7] a vote of no confidence requires that the opposition, on the same ballot, propose a candidate of their own whom they want to be appointed as successor by the respective head of state. Thus the motion of no confidence is required to be at the same time as a motion of confidence for a new candidate (this variation is called a constructive vote of no confidence). The idea was to prevent crises of the state such as those found near the end of the German Weimar Republic by ensuring that whoever is head of government has enough support to govern. Unlike the British system, the German Chancellor does not have to resign in response to the failure of a vote of confidence, provided it has been initiated by herself/himself and not by the parliamentary opposition, but rather may ask the Federal President to call general elections - a request the President may or may not fulfill.




In federal politics, a vote of no confidence takes down the government, and votes of no confidence may be asserted automatically if a federal budget fails to pass a Parliamentary vote.

In the consensus government system of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, Canada, in which the premier is chosen among and by a vote of the members of the non-partisan legislature, a vote of no confidence removes the premier and cabinet from office and permits the members to elect a new premier.[9]


In Australia, a motion of no-confidence requires 76 members of the House of Representatives to agree to it.

Presidential systems[edit]

In presidential systems, the legislature may occasionally pass motions of no confidence and may also have the procedure of impeachment by which an executive or judicial officer can be removed.

United States[edit]

The United States Congress passed a no confidence motion against Secretary of State Dean Acheson in the 1950s[10] and considered one against Attorney General Alberto Gonzales,[11] but these motions are of symbolic effect only.

In certain parts of the United States (as well as Venezuela), the recall election fills a similar role of removing an unpopular government, but, in contrast to a motion of no confidence, this vote involves the entire electorate.


In the Russian Federation the lower house of parliament (the State Duma) may by a simple majority (i.e. at least 226 votes out of 450) pass a motion of no confidence against the Government of Russia as a whole. In this case the matter goes for consideration of the President, who may choose to dismiss the cabinet (which the President can do at any moment of time at his own discretion anyway) or just to ignore the Duma's decision. Should the Duma pass a second motion of no confidence against the same composition of the cabinet within three months, the President will be forced to make a concrete decision - to dismiss the government or to dissolve the Duma itself and call for new general elections. The State Duma may not be dissolved on these grounds if it was elected less than a year ago, if it has already initiated impeachment proceedings against the President himself by bringing respective accusations, if less than six months is left until elections of the President or if there is a state of emergency or martial law throughout the whole territory of Russian Federation. In the above-mentioned cases the President would therefore be effectively forced to dismiss the Government.[citation needed]


The first motion of no confidence occurred in March 1782[citation needed] when, following news of the British defeat at Yorktown in the American Revolutionary War the previous October, the Parliament of Great Britain voted that they "can no longer repose confidence in the present ministers". Prime Minister Lord North responded by asking King George III to accept his resignation. This did not immediately create a constitutional convention. During the early 19th century, however, attempts by prime ministers such as Robert Peel to govern in the absence of a parliamentary majority proved unsuccessful, and by the mid-19th century, the ability of a motion of no confidence to break a government was firmly established in the UK.

In the United Kingdom, there have been a total of 11 prime ministers defeated through a no-confidence motion. There has been only one (against James Callaghan) since 1925.

In modern times, passage of a motion of no confidence is a relatively rare event in two-party democracies. In almost all cases, party discipline is sufficient to allow a majority party to defeat a motion of no confidence, and if faced with possible defections in the government party, the government is likely to change its policies rather than lose a vote of no confidence. The cases in which a motion of no confidence has passed are generally those in which the government party has a slim majority which is eliminated by either by-elections or defections, such as the 1979 vote of no confidence in the Callaghan government of the UK which was carried by one vote, forcing a general election which was won by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative party.

Motions of No Confidence are far more common in multi-party systems in which a minority party must form a coalition government. This can result in the situation in which there are many short-lived governments because the party structure allows small parties to break a government without means to create a government. This has widely been regarded as the cause of instability for the French Fourth Republic and the German Weimar Republic. More recent examples of this phenomenon have been in Italy between the 1950s and 1990s, Israel, and Japan.

To deal with this situation, the French placed large amount of executive power in the office of President of France, which is immune from Motions of No Confidence.

In 2008, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, of the re-elected minority government of Canada, requested that Governor-General Michaëlle Jean prorogue Parliament. The request was granted, and it allowed the Prime Minister to delay a potential vote on the non-confidence motion presented by the opposition. (See 2008–2009 Canadian parliamentary dispute.)

In 2013, during the Euromaidan pro-EU riots, opposition in Ukraine called for a motion of no confidence against the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and pro-Russian, Euroskeptic Prime Minister of Ukraine Mykola Azarov. At least 226 votes were needed to gain a majority in the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament. However, it fell 40 votes short, and Azarov's government prevailed.[12]

See also[edit]


  2. ^ "Current Lok Sabha hasn't seen trust vote, no-confidence motion". The Times Of India. Aug 11, 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013. the move could not even take off as Banerjee's party failed to muster the support of even 50 members, the minimum required for bringing a no trust motion. 
  3. ^ "Procedure regarding motion of no-confidence". Archived from the original on 9 Jul 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2013. 
  4. ^ "Rules of confidence". Jul 12, 2008. Retrieved 9 December 2013. What happens if the prime minister loses a motion of confidence? In such a case, he is obliged to resign 
  5. ^ Constitution of Italy. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  6. ^ "Sentenza n. 7 del 1996". Retrieved January 3, 2015. 
  7. ^ German Constitution Official English Translation Article 67 - Vote of No Confidence
  8. ^ "Constitution of Japan". Retrieved 21 January 2014. 
  9. ^ (CBC)
  10. ^ "THE CONGRESS: Vote of No Confidence". Time. Mar 3, 1952. Retrieved 29 March 2011. 
  11. ^ Johnston, David; Lipton, Eric (11 June 2007). "No-Confidence Vote on Gonzales Fails in the Senate". The New York Times. Retrieved 5 September 2013. 
  12. ^ The Wall Street Journal  Missing or empty |title= (help)