Parliamentary republic

form of government

A parliamentary republic is a name for a government. The system is used in many countries.

States with a parliamentary system are shown in red and orange. Red is a constitutional monarchy. Orange is a parliamentary republic. Green is where the parliament helps the executive, but does not choose it.

What it looks like

In a parliamentary system, the legislature is the part of government that makes laws. The legislature also gives power to the executive (the part of government that enforces laws). This is the basic form of a parliamentary republic. The difference is how the legislature gets its power. The legislature is not chosen by a ruler or by birth. The people choose the legislature in an election. This means that the executives get their power from the legislature, but the legislature gets its power from the people.

How it works

The people choose the legislature. There are many people in the legislature. That group then gets together to choose one person to be their leader. The leader is often part of the legislature. The name for this job is Prime Minister in most countries. The Prime Minister is the head of government. This person leads the country. This way, the people are the power behind the parliamentary republic. They choose the units that make government work.

This is different from other parliamentary systems because the legislature is chosen in a different way. In other parliamentary systems, members are chosen by the head of state, the local leaders, or by birth. In a parliamentary republic, the people choose the members. The people do this through elections. Sometimes they vote for every person in parliament. Other times they vote for people in their area. The politicians they elect go to parliament to make laws and select the head of state. This gives the people power to decide who is in government.

Examples

CountryParliamentary republic adopted
Albania1991
Bangladesh1991[note 1]
Bosnia and Herzegovina1991
Botswana1966
Bulgaria1989
Cape Verde1990
Croatia2000
Czech Republic1993
Dominica1978
East Timor1999
Estonia1991[note 2]
Ethiopia1991
Finland1919
Germany1949[note 3]
Greece1975
Hungary1990
Iceland1944
 India1950
Iraq2005
Ireland1949
Israel1948
Italy1946
Kiribati1979
Kyrgyzstan2010
Latvia1991[note 4]
Lebanon1941
Libya2012
Lithuania1991[note 5]
Macedonia1991
Malta1974
Marshall Islands1979
 Mauritius1992
Federated States of Micronesia1986
Moldova1994[note 6]
Mongolia1949
Montenegro1992
Nauru1968
Nepal2008
Pakistan2010[1][2]
Poland1990
Samoa2007
San Marino0301
Serbia1991
Singapore1995
Slovakia1993
Slovenia1991
Somalia2012
South Africa1961
 Trinidad and Tobago1976
Turkey1946
Vanuatu1980

Notes

References