The majority of the world’s democracies use a parliamentary system as opposed to a presidential one. This system is practised by countries such as Great Britain, New Zealand and the United States. It is also used in the European Union where Members of Parliament (MPs) put important political, economic and social topics under the spotlight and uphold EU values such as democracy, freedom, equality and the rule of law.
During an election voters choose a candidate to represent their local area known as a constituency, the winner of this vote becomes a Member of Parliament until the next election. There are 650 constituencies across the UK and if a MP dies or retires a by-election is held to find a replacement. The main job of a MP is to pass legislation and debate issues that affect Cheltenham.
Parties in a parliament elect a leader who is usually known as the Prime Minister and they then select departmental ministers. The government can be defeated through a motion of no confidence and in a few parliamentary systems such as those of Scotland, Ireland and Norway the head of state has a constitutional power to disallow laws passed by parliament.
Parliaments which follow the Westminster model tend to have adversarial debating practices and a plenary chamber which is more important than committees. However, many Western European parliamentary models have less adversarial practices and have more informal semi-circular debating chambers. These are also more likely to use proportional representation with open party lists.
About the Author
