61.   On Thursday, the Staffordshire South East by-election will be held, which the ruling Conservative Party is expected to lose, reducing its parliamentary majority to one.

62.   Opposition leaders have said that the nationalists may be planning to rush into a new election in the hope of winning a parliamentary majority, something Vajpayee has denied.

63.   Prodi lost his parliamentary majority after the Reformed Communist Party rebelled over his plans for a budget cut.

64.   Prodi yesterday said if the votes of the conservative opposition were required for the ruling coalition to hang on to its parliamentary majority, then he would step down.

65.   Rifkind yesterday said he needs to return for the London debate because his party, the Conservatives, have lost their parliamentary majority and are heading into an election.

66.   Sharon is pushing for a broad-based coalition to secure a stable parliamentary majority.

67.   She had hoped that Britons would vote tactically to deprive Labor of its big parliamentary majority.

68.   Still, Baratiya Janata came within striking distance of a parliamentary majority by making deft decisions in its choice of election allies among regional parties.

69.   That arrangement has worked well whenever the president and parliamentary majority are allied.

70.   That role is is largely ceremonial, though its powers include discretion in choosing a prime minister if no party has a parliamentary majority.