Winning an Election

When a party wins more than half of the seats in the Legislative Assembly, the resulting government is referred to as a "majority government". This means that when the majority party votes to pass laws in the house of assembly, that they will always win the vote so long as all the members of the government vote in favour of the motion. A majority government is a stable form of government because it has the least chance of being defeated before the usual time for an election.

When a party wins the most seats in an election, but not more than half of the seats available in the Legislative Assembly, the resulting government is referred to as a "minority government". This means that the party with the most seats risk losing votes in the Legislative Assembly because the other parties can vote against the motions of the government and defeat them. If a vote is over a bill that relates to budget, or is considered a "motion of confidence in the government", the government could be defeated and have to call a general election. Minority governments are considered less stable for this reason.