Theresa May’s snap election gamble, explained

American University News


Theresa May, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, decided on April 18 to dissolve Parliament and hold snap elections on June 8. The motion easily secured the required two-thirds majority in the U.K.'s House of Commons.
The decision marks a stunning reversal and has surprised many people in her own government and abroad. May had repeatedly denied that she would make such a momentous decision.
In the U.S., we're accustomed to a fixed electoral calendar. But, the power to dissolve Parliament is present in many political systems, such as in the Republic of Ireland, Canada and Japan.
That power is used frequently in some countries like Italy and rarely in others such as Germany. It can reside in the Parliament itself, or be held by the head of state. And it is a power that can be used liberally, or only in specific circumstances.
In this case, May is betting that this move will result in a larger Conservative majority in Parliament and strengthen her hand for the upcoming Brexit negotiations.
It also means yet another crucial election in Western Europe in 2017, where France and Germany already have elections scheduled.
A great power
The power to dissolve Parliament dates back to the Middle Ages, and is deeply ingrained in U.K. politics. It granted the monarch the ability to dismiss the legislature at any time, limiting lawmakers' influence. As authority shifted over time from monarchs to Parliament and the prime minister, this power remained.
For centuries, prime ministers had to ask the monarch to dissolve Parliament. In the last century, they used that privilege to shore up their party's majority in Parliament, or to receive a personal mandate.
On paper, that changed with the Fixed-term Parliaments Act of 2011, which seemed to curtail the power of the prime minister. The act set a clear schedule for elections and removed ...

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