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It always helps to define something by comparing it to what it isn't. It is interesting that so far this article does not mention one country where the government in power has the right to arbitrarily call an election, generally at a time advantageous to itself. One example would be Australia re federal elections. Edward Carson (talk) 01:21, 2 August 2017 (UTC)
First sentence says "A fixed-term election is an election that occurs on a set date, and cannot be changed by a majority of incumbent politicians." Article then gives examples of Canada, Australia, and UK where no confidence votes can result in an early election. This seems a clear contradiction. UK entry even says "Like Canada, Germany, and Australia, provision is made for non-confidence votes".
It seems to me we either need different terms like 'fully fixed term' to distinguish from a 'variable fixed term' indicating possibility of a fixed date being altered. Probably can't do that unless we have suitable reference for such terms. So that leaves us needing a different way of avoiding the contradiction currently in the article. Immediate thought is to delete the 'and cannot be changed by a majority of incumbent politicians' in first sentence, then five examples in two groups. A good authoritative source to see whether inclusion or exclusion of this second part is merited might be a good start? Thoughts? crandles (talk) 15:16, 19 May 2019 (UTC)
Added {{Expert needed}} - let's see if this helps. CapnZapp (talk) 11:24, 4 June 2019 (UTC)
A fixed-term election is an election that occurs on a set date which cannot generally be changed by the individual or assembly subject to the election. Legislation governing fixed-term elections varies from country to country. In some cases early elections may be held under specific circumstances, such as a successful motion of no confidence in a government or parliamentary deadlock over a bill.
My understanding is that an election system is fixed-term if those elected by it aren't free to choose the election's date under normal circumstances ie: they have to use an exceptional mechanism such as a no-confidence motion or a supermajority. It resembles the way that a constitution typically cannot be changed at will by a majority in a legislature, but in some cases (South Africa, US etc) it can be amended by a supermajority. I think that's why the existing definition says "...cannot be changed by a majority of incumbent politicians" (perhaps it should say something like "...cannot merely be..." to be clearer). An early election needs more than just a majority in parliament – it needs an additional element such as a no-confidence motion.
The UK's Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 requires a no-confidence motion or a supermajority to bring about an early election. The fact that a supermajority was easy for the UK's PM to obtain in 2017 does not mean that it's not an exceptional mechanism – I can't think of another event in the UK parliament that requires one.[1] It's possible that in the future supermajorities will appear whenever a UK PM wants to call an early election. It's equally possible that they won't. But if they do, the result would be a fixed-term election system where early elections are very common. It would be rather like a supermarket where prices are fixed (you can't haggle) but price reductions are very common.
-- Polly Tunnel (talk) 17:38, 20 June 2019 (UTC)
References
I submit this article should be at "Fixed-term elections", not "Fixed-term election". Plural, not singular.
The concept is about the "basic type" of Elections, not any single election of that type.
Explaining that "A fixed-term election is an election that occurs on a set date" feels very wonky. Isn't all elections on set dates? I don't think there's anything special about the actual elections under the fixed-term scheme - it's all about the interval between two or more of them.
Point is, having elections of the fixed-term type means having elections that happen with some regularity whether politicians want them to happen on those dates or not.
It would feel much more relevant if the page was moved, and we could instead start the lead with something like:
(Just an outline, perhaps you can find a nice definition somewhere)
CapnZapp (talk) 17:41, 27 June 2019 (UTC)
PS. I could move the page myself (the destination page doesn't exist) but am asking for input first (without setting up a formal move request).
Our definition of fixed term is: A fixed-term election is an election that occurs on a set date, and cannot be changed by incumbent politicians other than through exceptional mechanisms if at all.
Thus it is clearly false to claim the UK's FTPA introduces Fixed Terms to the country, since the legislation can be circumvented by a simple bill, which is by definition not exceptional at all.
Cheers CapnZapp (talk) 10:29, 30 October 2019 (UTC)
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