Incumbent Minority Governments

Although there is no precedent in Israel's history for forming a minority government immediately after an election, and while most governments in parliamentary democracies are majority governments, minority governments are far from a rarity.

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Minority governments rely on the ‘external support’ of one or more parties. A party that is not part of the governing coalition nevertheless provides regular support to the government, on the basis of a 'confidence and supply' agreement with the ruling party, to guarantee it a parliamentary majority on crucial votes in return for various benefits.

The following chart shows the 9 countries where minority governments are currently in office.

Country	Size of Parliament (number of seats)	Type of Government	# of Mandates of the Parties in the Government	# of Mandates of the Parties Supporting the Government
Belgium *	150	minority coalition	48	-
Czech Republic	200	minority coalition	93	15
Denmark	175	single party minority	48	43
Ireland *	158	single party minority	59	44
New Zealand	120	minority coalition	55	8
Norway	169	minority coalition	61	27
Portugal	230	single party minority	106	19
Spain	350	minority coalition	155	12
Sweden	349	minority coalition	116	51

* Caretaker government