Motion of Confidence

A Motion of Confidence is a motion of support proposed by a government in a parliament or other assembly of elected representatives to give members of parliament (or other such assembly) a chance to register their confidence in a government. The motion is passed or rejected by means of a parliamentary vote (a Vote of confidence). Governments often propose a Motion of confidence to replace a Motion of no confidence proposed by the opposition.
Defeat of a Motion of Confidence in a parliamentary democracy generally requires one of two actions: the resignation of the government, or a request for a parliamentary dissolution and the calling of a General Election.
In Italy the Constitution provides only the motion of confidence and that of not-confidence, respectively to start and to end the life of a government; the question of confidence, by which the government asks a Chamber to approve without change its texts, is the result of a tradition of the late nineteenth century and is increasingly used to accelerate the legislative process, but does not apply to rules for amending Constitution.