In which type of government do citizens elect the legislature and the president separately?
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A parliamentary government is a system in which the powers of the executive and legislative branches are intertwined as opposed to being held separate as a check against each other's power, as the Founding Fathers of the United States demanded in the U.S. Constitution. In fact, the executive branch in a parliamentary government draws its power directly from the legislative branch. That's because the top government official and members of his cabinet are chosen not by voters, as is the case in the presidential system in the United States, but by members of the legislature. Parliamentary governments are common in Europe and the Caribbean; they are also more common worldwide than presidential forms of government. What Makes a Parliamentary Government DifferentThe method by which the head of government is chosen is the primary distinction between a parliamentary government and a presidential system. The head of a parliamentary government is chosen by the legislative branch and typically holds the title of Prime Minister, as is the case in the United Kingdom and Canada. In the United Kingdom, voters elect members of the British House of Commons every five years; the party that secures a majority of seats then chooses members of the executive branch cabinet and prime minister. The prime minister and his cabinet serve as long as the legislature has confidence in them. In Canada, the lead of the political party that wins the most seats in parliament becomes the prime minister. By comparison, in a presidential system such as the one in place in the United States, voters elect members of Congress to serve in the legislative branch of government and choose the head of the government, the president, separately. The president and members of Congress serve fixed terms that are not dependent on the confidence of voters. Presidents are limited to serving two terms, but there are no terms limits for members of Congress. In fact, there is no mechanism for removal of a member of Congress, and while there are provisions in the U.S. Constitution to remove a sitting president—impeachment and the 25th Amendment—there's never been a commander-in-chief forcibly removed from the White House. Elections in Parliamentary SystemsA parliamentary system is basically a representative form of government in which individual members of a legislative body are elected, and the results of those elections determine the executive (who must then maintain the confidence of the legislature or risk removal). The actual methods of voting may vary from country to country. Some parliamentary systems use a plurality system (colloquially known as "first past the post"), in which a voter can vote for a single candidate, and whichever candidate gets the most votes wins. Others use some variation of proportional representation, which can take several forms - voting based on party lists and proportions of votes for each party, ranked-choice voting, or a mix of both. Party-list voting also has its own variations: some systems allow for voters to be the ones who prioritize the order in which party candidates are elected, while others reserve that power for party officials. The elections then determine who the executive will be. Technically, there are several different methods that a parliamentary system may utilize to select its executive, but in practice, they all boil down to the selection of the "leader" of the party who wins a working majority of seats in the parliament. There's one situation that can occur with these elections that does not happen in presidential systems. A hung parliament happens when the results of an election do not provide any one party with an absolute majority (that is, more than half the seats). In these cases, no party is assumed to have a mandate to take up governance and install its leader as the executive. In general, two outcomes are then available:
The Role of Parties in a Parliamentary GovernmentThe party in power in a parliamentary government controls the office of the prime minister and all members of the cabinet, in addition to holding enough seats in the legislative branch to pass legislation, even on the most controversial issues. The opposition party, or the minority party, is expected to be vociferous in its objection to almost everything the majority party does, and yet it has little power to impede the progress of their counterparts on the other side of the aisle. Parties tend to be much stricter about keeping their elected legislators in line with the party's platform; it's rarer for an individual member of parliament to break with their party in this type of system, though not unheard-of. In contrast, in a system such as that of the United States, a party can control the legislature and the executive and still fail to accomplish much, due to a variety of rules that can halt proposed legislation in its tracks, as well as the looser ties that bind a party together. For instance, the United States Senate has a filibuster rule, in which any legislation can be delayed indefinitely unless 60 members out of 100 vote to invoke cloture. In theory, a party only needs to hold 51 seats (or 50 seats plus the vice presidency) to pass legislation with a simple majority. In practice, however, legislation that might otherwise pass on a narrow vote never gets that far because at least ten members of the opposition party must agree to allow a vote that they know they're likely to lose. Different Kinds of Parliamentary GovernmentsThere are more than half a dozen different kinds of parliamentary governments. They operate similarly but often have different organizational charts or names for positions.
What type of government allows the leader to work independently from the legislature?A presidential system, or single executive system, is a form of government in which a head of government, typically with the title of president, leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch in systems that use separation of powers.
What is the type of democracy in which the people elect the legislature and the legislature elects the executive?A parliamentary system or parliamentary democracy is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the legislature, typically a parliament, to which it is accountable.
What is parliamentary and presidential form of government?A presidential system, also known as a single executive system, is a form of government in which the president heads an executive branch that is independent of the legislative branch whereas a parliamentary system, often known as parliamentary democracy, is a form of democratic administration in which the executive ...
What is an example of a parliamentary government?A few examples among the many parliamentary democracies are Canada, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Latvia, the Netherlands, and New Zealand.
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