Information AboutSupermajority |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT SUPERMAJORITY | |
| elections | |
| politics | |
| voting theory | |
| SHOPPER'S DELIGHT | |
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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. 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. TWO-THIRDS MAJORITY A two-thirds majority is a common supermajoritarian requirement in ) - a two-thirds vote. 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 Cardinal s 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. SEE ALSO |