Snap election

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A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a majority of seats, when the incumbent prime minister is defeated in a motion of no confidence, to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity, or to decide a pressing issue. Snap elections are called under circumstances when an election is not required by law or convention.

A snap election differs from a recall election in that it is initiated by politicians (usually the head of government or ruling party) rather than voters, and from a by-election in that a completely new parliament is chosen as opposed to merely filling vacancies in an already established assembly.^[1][2] Early elections can also be called in certain jurisdictions after a ruling coalition is dissolved if a replacement coalition cannot be formed within a constitutionally set time limit.

Since the power to call snap elections (the dissolution of parliament) usually lies with the incumbent head of government (such as a prime minister), they often result in increased majorities for the party already in power provided they have been called at an advantageous time.^[3] However, snap elections can also backfire on the incumbent resulting in a decreased majority or in some cases the opposition winning or gaining power. As a result of the latter cases, there have been occasions in which the consequence has been the implementation of fixed-term elections.