Bjørn Erik Rasch: Bør parlamentariske regjeringer ha ubegrenset oppløsningsrett?

Abstract

Should the dissolution power of parliamentary governments be unrestricted? Scandinavian countries differ with respect to dissolution powers. In Norway, it is not possible at all to call early elections. Danish governments have an almost unrestricted right to dissolve parliament, and the dissolution power has been quite frequently used. In Sweden, no early election has taken place after the new constitution were implemented in 1975.Thus, in practice the dissolution power of Swedish governments are limited. This paper has three main purposes. First, I give an overview of constitutional rules regulating early election in 25 parliamentary countries. Second, I trace some of the effects of unlimited dissolution power in the hands of minority as well as majority governments. Third, I deal with a normative questions. Do convincing arguments support unrestricted dissolution power for parliamentary governments?