Title: Mandate (politics) - Wikipedia
Headings: Mandate (politics)
Mandate (politics)
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Mandate (politics)
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This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Find sources: " Mandate" politics – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (September 2011)
In politics, a mandate is the authority granted by a constituency to act as its representative. The concept of a government having a legitimate mandate to govern via the fair winning of a democratic election is a central idea of representative democracy. New governments who attempt to introduce policies that they did not make public during an election campaign are said not to have a legitimate mandate to implement such policies. Elections, especially ones with a large margin of victory, and are often said to give the newly elected government or elected official an implicit mandate to put into effect certain policies. When a government seeks re-election they may introduce new policies as part of the campaign and are hoping for approval from the voters, and say they are seeking a "new mandate". In some languages, a "mandate" can mean a parliamentary seat won in an election rather than the electoral victory itself.