Snap election

A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a majority of seats, when the incumbent prime minister is defeated in a motion of no confidence, to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity, or to decide a pressing issue. Snap elections are called under circumstances when an election is not required by law or convention.
A snap election differs from a recall election and by-election in that a completely new parliament is chosen as opposed to merely re-electing individual seats in an already established assembly.
Early elections can be called in certain jurisdictions after a ruling coalition is dissolved if a replacement coalition cannot be formed within a constitutionally set time limit. In some countries a referendum can result in a snap election.
In countries where the power to call snap elections lies with the incumbent head of government, they often result in increased majorities for the party already in power provided they have been called at an advantageous time. However, snap elections can also backfire on the incumbent resulting in a decreased majority or in some cases the opposition winning or gaining power. As a result of the latter cases, there have been occasions in which the consequence has been the implementation of fixed-term elections.

Americas

Belize

According to Section 84 of the Constitution of Belize, the National Assembly must be dissolved "five years from the date when the two Houses of the former National Assembly first met" unless dissolved sooner by the governor-general upon the advice of the prime minister.
Since Belize gained independence from the United Kingdom in September 1981, snap elections have been called twice, in 1993 and 2012. In March 2015, Belizean Prime Minister Dean Barrow ruled out the possibility of a snap election later in the year. In the November 2015 general election, Prime Minister Barrow's United Democratic Party increased its majority by 9 percent as it made Belizean history, forming its third consecutive government.

Canada

In Canada, snap elections at the federal level are very common. Section 50 of the Constitution Act, 1867 and section 4 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms limits the maximum life of a federal parliament to five years following the return of the last writs of election. A law was passed to set the election date on the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year after the previous poll, although courts found it effectively legally unenforceable and not binding on the prime minister. Any election that occurs before the schedule is a snap election.
During his 10 years as prime minister, Jean Chrétien recommended to the governor general to call two snap elections, in 1997 and 2000, winning both times. Wilfrid Laurier and John Turner, meanwhile, both lost their premierships in snap elections they themselves had called. The most notable federal snap election is that of 1958, where Prime Minister John Diefenbaker called an election just nine months after the previous one and transformed his minority government into the largest majority in the history of Canada up to that date.
A snap election was also called in the province of Ontario in 1990, three years into Premier David Peterson's term. Peterson was polling at 54%, lower than his peak popularity but still well above the opposition party leaders, and expected to be re-elected with comfortable majority. However, the 1990 Ontario general election backfired since it was interpreted as a sign of arrogance, with some cynically viewing it as an attempt to win another mandate before an anticipated economic recession. In the biggest upset in Ontario history, the Ontario New Democratic Party led by Bob Rae won an unprecedented majority government while Peterson lost his own seat to a rookie NDP candidate. A similar result occurred in Alberta in 2015 when Premier Jim Prentice of the governing Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta called a snap election. A few months before, 11 MLAs including their leader from the official opposition Wildrose Party had crossed the floor to sit with the government. However, the province was entering an economic recession due to the abrupt 2010s oil glut, and Prentice's budget was not well received by either the political left or right. The resulting Alberta New Democratic Party majority victory unseated 13 cabinet ministers and ended 44 years of Progressive Conservative government in Alberta.
In 2021, sitting Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called a snap election in an attempt to win a majority, up from his previous minority government. He justified the snap election as a way for Canadians to choose which government leads them through Canada's recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Trudeau was widely criticized for calling the snap election while the country was in the midst of a 4th wave of Covid. Following the election Trudeau managed to remain Prime Minister, but the Liberal Party failed to win a majority government.
In 2025, Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney called a snap election for 28 April 2025, nine days after replacing Justin Trudeau as leader of the Liberal Party and Prime Minister of Canada.

Peru

The Constitution of Peru allows for the dissolution of Congress by the President if a vote of no-confidence is passed two times by the legislative body, who then has four months to call for new parliamentary elections or faces impeachment. The 2020 Peruvian parliamentary elections were declared after President Martín Vizcarra dissolved Congress.

Asia and Oceania

Australia

There are three procedures in which federal elections can be held early in Australia:

The maximum term of the Australian House of Representatives is 3 years. However, the chamber can wait several months after the election to make its first sitting, while a campaign period of at least 33 days is needed between the dates that the election is called and held. It is the norm for the chamber to be dissolved early by the Governor-General before its term expires, which is done on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Half of the Australian Senate changes over every three years in July. An election for the half about to change over must take place up to a year before this is due, on a date determined by the government. By convention, the elections of both chambers have usually been held on the same day. If the previous Senate election was held close to the changeover, the next Senate election can be held significantly earlier.
A double dissolution may be called to resolve conflict between the two chambers, in which case the entire membership of both chambers comes up for election. This requires at least one bill that originated in the House of Representatives to be rejected twice by the Senate under certain conditions. In this case, the next Senate changeover is due in the second month of July after the election, while the House of Representatives begins a new 3-year term.

Examples of early elections in Australia:

1963 election: Liberal Prime Minister Robert Menzies called an early election for the House of Representatives because the government were struggling to govern with their narrow 2-seat majority in the chamber. The government succeeded in gaining 10 seats. The election left the House and Senate elections out of synchronization until 1974.
1974 election: The double dissolution election focused on Labor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam's first years in office and whether the Australian public was willing to continue with his reform agenda, and also to break a deadlock in the Senate after Opposition Leader Billy Snedden announced that the opposition would block the Government's supply bills in the Senate following the Gair Affair. The Whitlam government was subsequently returned with a reduced majority in the House of Representatives but increased presence in the Senate, allowing the government to pass six reform bills in a joint sitting of the two houses of the Australian parliament.
1975 election: The election followed the controversial dismissal of the Whitlam government by Governor-General Sir John Kerr in the 1975 constitutional crisis and the installation of Opposition Leader Malcolm Fraser as prime minister. Labor believed it had a chance of winning the elections, and that the dismissal would be an electoral asset for them but the Coalition attacked Labor for the economic conditions they presided over, resulting in the Coalition winning a record victory, with 91 seats in the House of Representatives to the ALP's 36 and a 35–27 majority in the expanded Senate.
1983 election: While an election was not due for seven more months, Malcolm Fraser had been emboldened by the unexpected victory in a 1982 by election which his Liberal Party was expected to lose. Fraser also sought to exploit divisions in the opposition Labor Party, and was surprised to learn that the popular Bob Hawke had won the Labor Party leadership on the day he sought a dissolution. Ultimately, Labor won power and defeated the Fraser government on a 24-seat swing—the largest defeat of a sitting government since 1949, and the worst defeat a sitting non-Labor government has ever suffered.
1984 election: This election was held 18 months ahead of time in order to bring the elections for the House of Representatives and Senate back into line. They had been thrown out of balance by the double dissolution of 1983. It was widely expected that the incumbent Hawke Labor government would be easily re-elected, but an exceptionally long 10-week campaign, confusion over the ballot papers and a strong campaign performance by Liberal leader, Andrew Peacock, saw the government's majority reduced.
1998 election: The election on 3 October 1998 was held six months earlier than required by the Constitution. Prime Minister John Howard made the announcement following the launch of the coalition's Goods and Services Tax policy launch and a five-week advertising campaign. The ensuing election was almost entirely dominated by the proposed 10% GST and proposed income tax cuts.
2010 election: A federal election was held on Saturday, 21 August 2010, which was called relatively early in order to give Prime Minister Julia Gillard – who had won the prime ministership outside of an election from Kevin Rudd – a greater mandate. The election ended in a hung parliament, and a resultant retaining of Labor's majority in the House of Representatives after negotiations with independents and the Greens.
2021 Tasmanian state election: Liberal Premier Peter Gutwein called the election a year early after the Liberal majority government fell into a minority government. The Liberals won the 2021 state election with a majority of one seat, with Labor forming opposition and the crossbench being composed of Greens and independents.
2024 Tasmanian state election: Liberal Premier Jeremy Rockliff called the election a year early for the same reason as Gutwein.
2025 Tasmanian state election: Rockliff called another early election just over a year after the previous one after a motion of no confidence passed.

In the states and territories, all except Tasmania have fixed election dates legislated into their constitutions or electoral laws and snap elections can only be called in extraordinary circumstances when certain conditions are met. In Western Australia, the Premier retains the ability to call a snap election at any time despite the fixed election dates. In the Australian Capital Territory, the federal government also has the ability to call a snap election in instances of incapacitation or gross misconduct of the Legislative Assembly. As federal territories constituted under federal legislation, the federal parliament also has the ultimate power to call a snap election in the ACT and the Northern Territory through the normal legislative process, although this has never occurred.