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The Ups and Downs of a Parliamentary System

Parliament comes from the French word parlement which means a discussion and the root word parler stands for to speak. A parliament exercises a parliamentary system and can either be unicameral or bicameral, in rare cases tricameralism may occur. In a unicameral system, there is only one chamber, which is the lower house while a bicameral consists of two chambers, which are both the upper house and the lower house. The lower house is often elected while the upper house may not require any election but through an appointment. In case that the upper house is being elected, it is still under the procedures being laid out by the lower house.

A parliamentary system is led by a Prime Minister or premier. The Prime Minister is referred to as the head of the government and a head of the state also exists, who is usually a monarch or a president. However, both execute separate powers. The head of state occupies a figurehead or a ceremonial position. At times, the head of state may be granted responsibilities with a lesser political inclination and may be given reserve powers, which can be used in case of an emergency which may still require the approval of the Prime Minister. The head of state is chosen through the means of an electoral college.

The Prime Minister being the head of the government, is a part not only of the executive branch but of the legislature as well. He or she is often the leader of the leading political party or is elected by the legislature or the parliament. The Prime Minister also exercises the power to choose the member of the executive Cabinet from the legislature. In circumstances that the legislature loses their trust or confidence on their Prime Minister, they can raise a vote of no-confidence, which would require the Prime Minister to resign and reverse, the executive branch may also have the authority to remove the legislature and convene an extra ordinary election.

In a parliament system, there are no separation of powers between the legislative branch and the executive branch but instead are characterized to what is commonly referred to as the fusion of powers. Their tasks and responsibilities are often intertwined. They all work together to deliver various government programs and formulate policies for the citizens of the nation, generally, in the form of votes and debates.

Similar to any type of government, there are advantages and disadvantages of having a parliamentary system. It has been brought to awareness that the following are the benefits that can be obtained from a parliamentary system:

Instead of waiting for an extensive time for a legislation to be approved, it can be shorter and faster since the executive and legislative branch is merged.

The source of power is distributed instead of being concentrated on one person through the different votes of the legislature which can be advantageous to a country that is subdivided in terms of different races and backgrounds.

It has also been studied based on the research done by the World Bank that corruption is lower in parliamentary systems.

In contrast, the following drawbacks have been pointed out:

If an individual is not a part of the legislature, a person aiming for a Prime Minister position can never run for the position. The choice is always limited to the people in the parliament.

Since there is a fusion of power between the legislative and executive branch the balance of power, accountability and checks can often be difficult to oversee, unless if the upper house will be tasked to do so.

In some parliamentary systems, there are no specific dates as to when elections should be held, which can be manipulated by the members of the Parliament. They can schedule to hold the elections at a time that would be favorable to them.

Analogous to other forms of government, there is always the concern of abuse in power. All of this can be reduced to an individual’s choice of leaders. Thus, much value and emphasis should be placed in selecting the right leaders for a country.

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