Lame duck
In politics, a lame duck or outgoing politician is an elected official whose successor has already been elected or will be soon. Outgoing politicians are often seen as having less influence with other politicians due to their limited time left in office. Conversely, a lame duck is free to make decisions that exercise the standard powers with little fear of backlash, such as issuing executive orders, pardons, or other controversial edicts. Lame duck politicians result from term limits, planned retirement, or electoral losses, and are especially noticeable where political systems build in a delay between the announcement of results and the taking of office by election winners. Even at the local level, politicians who do not seek re-election can lose credibility and influence. Uncompleted projects may fall to the wayside as their influence diminishes.
Description
The status can be due to:- having lost a re-election bid
- choosing not to seek another term, which would start at the expiration of the current term
- a term limit which prevents the official from running for that particular office again
- the abolition of the office, which must nonetheless be served out until the end of the official's term.
In more recent history, US President Bill Clinton was widely criticized for issuing 140 pardons and other acts of executive clemency on his last day in office, including two former close colleagues, donors, fellow Democratic members, and his own half-brother.
In many countries, toward the facilitation of a smooth transition, an outgoing president accepts advice from and consults with the president-elect.
Origins of the term
The first time the phrase is known to have been used in its metaphorical sense was in the 18th century; it was used at the London Stock Exchange to refer to a stockbroker who defaulted on his debts. In 1761, Horace Walpole wrote, in a letter to Sir Horace Mann: "Do you know what a Bull and a Bear and Lame Duck are?" And in 1791, Mary Berry wrote that the Duchess of Devonshire's loss of in stocks was "the conversation of the town," and that her name was to be "posted up as a lame duck".The first known use of the term to refer to politicians is in the January 14, 1863, issue of the Congressional Globe : "In no event... could be justly obnoxious to the charge of being a receptacle of 'lame ducks' or broken down politicians."
Examples
Australia
In Australia, regardless of when the election is held, senators sit from July 1 following their election to June 30 six years later, while the newly elected members of the House of Representatives take their seats soon after an election. A Senate that is destined to lose its majority as a result of such a change is called a lame-duck Senate and often attracts criticism if it blocks government measures introduced in the House of Representatives.For example, after the 2004 election, it became clear that the governing Liberal Party/National Party coalition would gain a majority in the new Senate, which was due to sit the following July. In May, some months after the elections but before the new Senate came to power, the old Senate refused to pass new tax laws that had been passed by the House, which served to merely delay the passage of those laws until the new Senate assembled.
In the 2010 Australian federal election, Senator Steve Fielding of the minor party Family First lost his seat and subsequently threatened to block supply if the Labor Party was successful in forming a minority government.
Following their landslide loss in the 2025 Australian federal election, the Liberal Party elected left faction member Sussan Ley as their new leader in the automatic leadership vote as Peter Dutton had lost his seat in Parliament. Her victory was made possible by several lame duck Senators and an unusual situation of allowing a vote from a lame duck failed House of Representatives candidate. Ley won the vote 29 to 25 with votes including departing senators Linda Reynolds and Hollie Hughes as well as Gisele Kapterian, who was assumed by party whips to have won the Division of Bradfield and was allowed to vote, but after a long count had in fact lost by 40. With those lost votes and the addition of right faction members of new Senator Jess Collins and Terry Young who had not voted because he had stayed home during the very close election count in Longman, it would leave Ley 1 vote behind when the Senator change took place at the start of July, two months after the leadership election.
Brazil
In the 2022 presidential election, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated incumbent right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro with 50,9% of the votes. In the months of November and December, Bolsonaro was referred to as a "lame duck", while a plot to overthrow the president-elect was being constructed. In 2025, Bolsonaro was sentenced for this crime.Canada
Unlike in some countries, there is no "lame duck" session of Parliament in Canada between the general election and swearing in of the new Parliament. In almost all cases, the outgoing prime minister or premier hands over power directly to their designated successor after a few weeks at most after a general election or shortly after a leadership election.Usually, when the leader of a ruling party steps down, they also relinquish their caucus leadership role at around the same time, so there is no need for an interim caucus leader. The power of outgoing Canadian parliamentarians is limited. Instead the departing prime minister or premier and cabinet ministers that were members of the now dissolved parliament will serve in an "acting" or "caretaker" capacity until the new parliament convenes; in one example when Sir Charles Tupper attempted to make appointments after losing the 1896 Canadian election the Governor General refused to act on this.
A notable exception to the above is the transition between William Lyon Mackenzie King and Louis St. Laurent, making it perhaps the only lame duck example in Canadian federal politics. After resigning the leadership of the Liberals, King became parliamentary leader and continued as Prime Minister of Canada for some months following the leadership election of his successor, St. Laurent, who became party leader but continued as a member of King's cabinet during this time.
While Pierre Trudeau retired from politics in 1984, he directly handed power over to John Turner after the leadership contest. However, Trudeau recommended that Governor General Jeanne Sauvé appoint over 200 Liberals to well-paying patronage positions, including Senators, judges, and executives on various governmental and crown corporation boards, widely seen as a way to offer "plum jobs" to loyal party members. These appointments generated a severe backlash across the spectrum. Turner had the right to recommend that the appointments be cancelled: advice that Sauvé would have been required to follow by constitutional convention. However, he let them stand and made a further 70 appointments himself. Turner refused to produce a written agreement he had made with Trudeau before taking office, documenting a secret deal that saw Trudeau step down early. This is seen by many as Trudeau attempting to exercise some lame duck influence before resigning as prime minister.
Italy
In Italy, during the President's last six months in office, termed "semestre bianco", the president cannot dissolve the Parliament and call a new election unless the Parliament's normal term expires during that period. In 2013, the general election was held on February 24-25, three months before president Giorgio Napolitano's term was due to end, resulting in the left-wing bloc having a majority in the Chamber of Deputies but a hung Senate. As by April, a new government had still not been formed, Napolitano would not have been eligible to call a new election if needed to resolve the deadlock.Meanwhile, a direct translation of "lame duck" - anatra zoppa - is instead used to refer to a situation that can happen in municipal elections. In cities with more than 15,000 inhabitants, mayoral elections are held in two rounds, if no candidate receives a majority of the votes in the first round, then the two best-performing candidates will proceed to a runoff held two weeks later. The lists that supported the mayoral candidate will receive, depending on their result, at least 60% of the council seats due to the majority bonus system. However, the city council is elected separately from the mayor, thus an anatra zoppa situation arises if the lists that supported a different candidate for mayor than the elected one received a majority of votes. It can also arise if a mayor is elected in the first round, but the lists supporting them do not receive at least 40% of the votes, in which case the majority bonus is not activated.
Usually, anatra zoppa administrations tend to be short-lived, with the mayor usually resigning after a year or two, an exception being in the municipality of Noci, where in 2013, center-left candidate Domenico Nisi won the run-off with 57.11% of the vote, whilst in the first round, the lists supporting center-right candidate Stanislao Morea received 53% of the vote to 40.45% of pro-Nisi lists, thus the right-wing lists received 9 out of 16 council seats and the left-wing lists 6. However, Nisi served out his entire term and was re-elected in 2018, this time also with a majority on the council.
For example, during the 2012 local elections, in Isernia, in the first round, center-right candidate Rosa Iorio received a plurality of 45.79%, followed by center-left candidate Ugo De Vivo receiving 30.44% of the vote, so they both proceeded to runoff, where De Vivo defeated Iorio with 57.37% of the vote. However, in the first round, the lists supporting De Vivo had only received a total of 23.59% of the vote, whilst the lists supporting Iorio received 58.66% of the vote. Therefore, the right-wing lists received 21 of the 32 council seats, whilst the left-wing lists only received 8, thus De Vivo, whilst elected mayor, was deprived of a majority in the council. After the center-right councillors resigned en masse, De Vivo resigned and new elections were held.