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List of prime ministers defeated by votes of no confidence

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This is a list of prime ministers defeated by either a parliamentary motion of no confidence or by the similar process of loss of supply.

Prime ministers defeated by votes of no confidence

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Australia

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Only one Australian prime minister, Malcolm Fraser, has ever been defeated in the House of Representatives by an explicit motion of no confidence.[1][2] In addition, six prime ministers were unable to enact important policy and therefore resigned, two prime ministers were unable to obtain supply from the House of Representatives, one prime minister was unable to obtain supply in the Senate and was dismissed by the Governor General, one Prime Minister never had the confidence of the House of Representatives, lost a motion of no confidence and refused to resign.[3]

These prime ministers were able to gain supply from the House of Representatives, but were unable to pass important policy-related legislation:

These prime ministers could not gain supply from the House of Representatives or an opposition amendment to a supply bill was passed:

  • Alfred Deakin (1904, could pass no legislation)
  • Arthur Fadden (1941, budget was amended down by £A1)
  • Malcolm Fraser (1975, could pass no legislation and lost a no confidence motion by the House of Representatives which also called on the Governor-General to recommission a government under Gough Whitlam as Prime Minister)[4]

Gough Whitlam could not gain supply from the Senate which was controlled by the conservative Coalition. It thus precipitated the 1975 constitutional crisis and Whitlam was dismissed.

Following Whitlam's dismissal, Malcolm Fraser was appointed Prime Minister. He never had the confidence of the House of Representatives, and he lost a motion of no confidence by 10 votes in the House of Representatives two hours after the dismissal of Whitlam. However, the Governor-General refused to see the Speaker of the House of Representatives who was to convey this motion of no confidence to him, or to acknowledge the motion of no confidence of the House of Representatives which had also called on the Governor-General to recommission the government led by Gough Whitlam.[4] One hour later the Governor-General dissolved parliament with Fraser still in office.[2]

Austria

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Barbados

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British Virgin Islands

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Bulgaria

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Canada

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Cook Islands

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Croatia

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Czech Republic

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Denmark

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Estonia

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Finland

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France

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Germany

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Haiti

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India

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Main article: Motion of no confidence in India

Ireland

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Israel

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Further information: The dirty trick

Italy

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Further information: Motion of no confidence § Italy
Further information: List of successful votes of no confidence in Kingdom of Italy governments

Japan

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Kazakhstan

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Kosovo

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Libya

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Lithuania

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Malta

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Marshall Islands

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Moldova

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Mongolia

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Montenegro

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Nepal

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Netherlands

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New Zealand

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Niger

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Northern Cyprus

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Norway

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Pakistan

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Papua New Guinea

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Peru

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Poland

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Portugal

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Romania

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Slovakia

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Slovenia

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Solomon Islands

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Somalia

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Spain

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Sri Lanka

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Sweden

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Thailand

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Turkey

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Tuvalu

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Ukraine

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United Kingdom

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Further information: List of votes of no confidence in British governments

Vanuatu

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Western Sahara

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Yugoslavia

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Other leaders defeated in no confidence votes

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Presidents

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These countries are generally parliamentary systems in which the president is elected by the parliament but is also head of state.

France

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French Polynesia

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Guyana

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Kiribati

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Marshall Islands

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Nauru

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Peru

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References

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  1. ^ House of Representatives Practice (7th edition) Chapter 9 Motions, 'Prime Ministers and Other Ministers' p. 325
  2. ^ a b "The motion that might have saved the Whitlam government". National Archives of Australia. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  3. ^ Jenny Hocking The Dismissal Dossier: Everything You Were Never Meant to Know about November 1975 – the Palace Connection Melbourne University Press 2017 pp 83–84
  4. ^ a b House of Representatives Hansard 11 November 1975 p. 2930-1
  5. ^ "20 years later . . ". www.nationnews.com. 2014-06-08. Retrieved 2022-04-10.
  6. ^ "British Virgin Islands passes vote of no-confidence against Premier Andrew Fahie". Reuters. 2022-05-05. Retrieved 2022-05-08.
  7. ^ "Election looms as government falls". CBC News. 25 March 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  8. ^ Dwyer, Ryle (2012-12-28). "Gubu politics disturbed a 'dull' year". Irish Examiner. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  9. ^ Clarity, James F. (1992-11-06). "Leader Defeated, Irish Government Collapses". New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
  10. ^ "Pala Vlada Crne Gore". balkans.aljazeera.net (in Bosnian). 4 February 2022. Retrieved 2022-02-04.

Notes

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  1. ^ Trudeau lost a motion of confidence when he failed to pass the 1974 budget. However, it was later revealed that this was done purposely by Prime Minister Trudeau in a successful attempt to win a majority government. This is the only time the tactic has been used in federal Canadian politics, but it established a precedent. Such a tactic is now called "engineering the defeat of one's own government", and it is widely frowned upon
  2. ^ a b While Meighen, Diefenbaker and Trudeau were toppled by loss of supply, and Joe Clark was defeated by the passage of a subamendment to a budget bill that read "that this House has lost confidence in the government," Martin and Harper lost an actual motion of no confidence put forward by the opposition parties.
  3. ^ The Grand Council of Fascism passed a resolution (the Ordine del Giorno Grandi) asking the king to resume his full constitutional powers, which amounted to a vote of no confidence in Mussolini.
  4. ^ This is considered to be the first motion of no confidence in history.

See also

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