Legal Definitions - constitutional majority

A constitutional majority is a term used in parliamentary law to refer to a majority of all the actual members, disregarding vacancies. It is also known as a majority of all the members or a majority of the entire membership.

• If a parliament has 100 members, a constitutional majority would be 51 votes, regardless of how many vacancies there are.
• In the United States Senate, a constitutional majority is required to approve a treaty or override a presidential veto, which is two-thirds of the senators present.

These examples illustrate that a constitutional majority is a specific type of majority that is required for certain actions to be taken in parliamentary law. It is different from a simple majority, which only requires more than half of the members who vote.