The government is the alliance that together gets >50% of the votes. That alliance falling through is the same as government (legislative and executive) disbanding.
Usually this means (1) hand over to a care taker government to have status quo continue (2) no more changes to law.
Then a few rounds of trying to find a new >50% alliance. After that, if necessary, new elections.
The reason it works differently in the US is because first-past-the-post voting always results in a 2 party dominance system. US alliances benefit from being formed before election, join blue team or red team. Here it’s after elections, with a lot of different combinations possible.
The government is the alliance that together gets >50% of the votes. That alliance falling through is the same as government (legislative and executive) disbanding.
Usually this means (1) hand over to a care taker government to have status quo continue (2) no more changes to law.
Then a few rounds of trying to find a new >50% alliance. After that, if necessary, new elections.
The reason it works differently in the US is because first-past-the-post voting always results in a 2 party dominance system. US alliances benefit from being formed before election, join blue team or red team. Here it’s after elections, with a lot of different combinations possible.
Seems like a nice feature to be able to get a new government if the current government refuses to work together.
In the US, we just end up with years of political deadlock.
The downside is that it can take a long time to form these alliances. Belgium’s record is almost 2 years (out of a 5 year election cycle).
Canada has first-past-the-post voting and still resulted in a minority government this year.
It will probably continue until we look like America’s system. FPTP is just about the dumbest system out there.
Israel had 5 collapses before Netanyahu got back in.