Parliamentary System

  • two houses/levels of legislature

  • Head of State- symbolic leader, a President (King Charles 15)

  • Head of Govt- has actual govt power, a Prime Minister, is elected by other legislature, PM is the leader of the majority party in Parliament

    • majority party is decided on who the people vote into parliament

  • no confidence vote- if parliament loses confidence in PM they can hold a vote to basically kick them out of office

  • coalitions- when there is no party majority in parliament, parties will team up and form a coalition and therefore a majority party

  • transfer of power is almost immediate

UK

  • Single District Member Plurality- whoever gets the most votes will win the district (also called First Past the Post/Winner Take All)

    • this can cause under/overrepresentation in parliament with parties

  • King Charles + Prime Minister Keir Starmer

  • UKIP = UK Independence Party → Brexit Party/Reform Party

  • General Election 2024- labor (left/democratic) won, conservative (center right) came in second, Conservative Sendak resigns, Starmer wins

  • HoC is part of the bicameral legislature, the other part is the HoL, the only difference is the House of Commons is elected reps

  • voting system

    • HoL- hereditary/life peer

    • HoC- FPTP/SMDP

    • PM- leader of majority party in parliament

    • HoS- hereditary

  • scotland

Canada

  • Single Member District Plurality

  • King Charles + Justin Trudeau

    • governor general- who acts as HoG when Charlie isnt there (Mary Simons)

  • elections for PM occur eveyr four years since last election

  • current party in charge- Liberal (left), then conservative (right), then Bloc Quebecois (LEFT), then NDP (LEFT), then Green (LEFT)

  • voting system

    • president- hereditary

    • PM- elected by parliament

    • HoC- FPTP/SMDP

    • senate- appointed by governor general