[av_one_full first min_height=” vertical_alignment=” space=” custom_margin=” margin=’0px’ padding=’0px’ border=” border_color=” radius=’0px’ background_color=” src=” background_position=’top left’ background_repeat=’no-repeat’ animation=”]
[av_heading heading=’Parliamentary democracies (Part 5)’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY JOHNNY NOVERA
[/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
TO CONTINUE with our discussion on the parliamentary system from last week’s column, we say that there are broadly two forms of Parliamentary Democracies.
There is the Westminster System or Westminster Model that is usually found in Commonwealth Countries, although they are not universal or necessarily exclusive to such countries. This type of Parliament tends to have the adversarial style of debates and the plenary session of the body is relatively more important than the committees.
Some parliaments in this model are elected using the “First-Past-the-Post” electoral system like that of Australia, India and the UK, while others use proportional representation like in Ireland and New Zealand.
However, when proportional systems are used, it tends to allow the voter to vote for a named candidate rather than a party list. This will result into greater separation of powers than in the Western European Model, although the extent of power separation is nowhere near that of the United States.
Western Europe’s Parliamentary Model (e.g., Spain and Germany) tends to have a more consensual debating system, and they have hemi-cyclical debating chambers. Proportional electoral systems are used where there is more of a tendency to use party list systems than the Westminster Model legislatures. The committees of these Parliaments tend to be more important than the plenary chamber. This type of Parliamentarianism is sometimes called the West German Model because it was first used in the Parliament of West Germany.
In general, we can therefore say that there are broadly two forms of Parliamentary Democracies: (1) The Westminster System or Westminster Models (examples are the governments or Australia, Canada, India and the UK) and (2) the Western European Parliamentary Model (examples of the latter are the governments of Spain and Germany).
But there also exists a Hybrid Model, drawing on both presidential and parliamentary systems, with the French Republic as example. Much of Eastern Europe has adopted this model since the early 1990s.
Parliamentarianism may also be used for governance in local governments. An example is the City of Oslo in Europe that has an executive council which is part of the parliamentary system.
In our next column, we will look into the advantages of the parliamentary system. (For comments or reactions, please e-mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com)/PN
[/av_textblock]
[/av_one_full]
