Supermajority

From electowiki
Revision as of 20:50, 26 January 2005 by imported>WikipediaBot (importing text from Wikipedia)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

A supermajority or a qualified majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level or type of support which exceeds a simple majority in order to have effect. For example: in some jurisdictions, parliamentary procedure requires that any action that may alter the rights of the minority has a supermajority requirement (such as a two-thirds majority). Changes to constitutions, especially those with entrenched clauses, commonly require supermajority support in a legislature.

The European Union Council of Ministers, in order to balance the interests of small and large member states, uses a qualified majority system for its decision-making.

The United States Senate requires a supermajority of 60 percent to move to a vote through a cloture motion, allowing a large minority to filibuster.

The United States Constitution requires a supermajority of two-thirds of both houses of Congress to propose a Congress-driven constitutional amendment; it also requires a three-fourths supermajority of state legislatures for final adoption of any constitutional amendment, as well as a two-thirds supermajority to pass a bill over the president's veto.

See also

This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).