relative majority

1 7.5

The largest number of votes for a person running for office that is less than half

noun
/ˈrɛlətɪv məˈdʒɔrɪti/

: mayoría relativa

The proposal was approved with a relative majority, indicating that it received more votes than alternative options, although not a majority of total votes cast.

Examples

He may be able to achieve this, as the PRI and allied parties hold a relative majority of seats in Congress and the PAN, whose cooperation is a must to reach the necessary quorum to modify the Constitution, is not ideologically opposed to the reform.

Blog text (14)
To form a government, a party must receive a relative majority of the votes, meaning they have more votes than any rival parties, even if it is not over 50%.
Passing bills with a relative majority demonstrates that the government is at threshold levels but does not appear at this stage willing to bring down the government.

Blog text (23)
A plurality (or a "relative majority") is an election in which the candidate wins the most votes, but not a true majority.

Blog text (29)
In the recent election, the candidate won with a relative majority, securing more votes than any other candidate but less than half of the total votes.

Synonyms

plurality

vsrelative majority

Specialized

9 7.9

The largest number of votes when no candidate gets more than half

is the same concept but uses an alternative term

Antonyms

absolute majority

2 3.9

More than half of all the votes in an election or decision

Surface Forms

relative majority singular

relative majorities plural

Morphology

relative + majority

The phrase is partly compositional: 'relative' qualifies 'majority', so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer it means a majority judged in relation to something rather than an absolute one. However, the specific electoral sense — that it denotes the largest number of votes even if under 50% (a plurality) — is a technical nuance not fully predictable from the words alone. Although many languages use a similar construction, the precise procedural meaning usually requires prior exposure.

Etymology

The term relative majority uses relative to mean 'compared to others' and majority to mean the largest part; picture a pie where one slice is bigger than any other slice but still less than half the pie. That's why relative majority means 'the most votes but less than 50%'.