Supermajority

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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. A supermajority is absolute if the required percentage or fraction is based on the entire membership rather than on those present and voting.

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, which closes debate on a bill or nomination, thus ending a filibuster by a minority of members. There are currently 100 members, and so sixty percent is sixty Senators.

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-quarters 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.

[edit] Two-thirds majority

A two-thirds majority is a common supermajoritarian requirement in elections, especially whenever minority rights can be changed (e.g. constitutional amendments). There are two kinds of two-thirds majority: the simple or the absolute. The term is a variation of the term used in parliamentary procedure, a two-thirds vote; which is preferred in that context because it removes any ambiguity as to the actual vote required.

A two-thirds majority means that the number of votes for a proposition or candidate must equal or exceed twice the number of votes against it. If unqualified, two-thirds majority by itself always means simple two-thirds majority.

As an example, consider the case of a hypothetical papal election in which only 100 cardinals vote of the 120 who are eligible. The results are that Cardinal A had 67 votes, Cardinal B had 20 votes, and Cardinal C had 13 votes. Cardinal A in this case has a simple two-thirds majority.

An absolute two-thirds majority means that two-thirds of the entire membership of a body or more must agree to the proposition. It is much stronger than a simple requirement. In the above case, if it required an absolute two-thirds majority of the 120 cardinals that can vote, then Cardinal A would not win, since he then would need 80 votes. This term is also not used in parliamentary procedure; there, it is expressed as "two thirds of those present" (which has the effect of counting abstentions as votes against the proposal) or "two thirds of the entire membership", as appropriate.

[edit] See also

• This entry is related to, but not included in the elections and voting series. Other related articles can be found at the Politics Portal.
• Qualified Majority Voting
• Absolute majority
• Minoritarianism
• Plurality