A parliamentary system, also known as parliamentarianism (and parliamentarism in U.S. English), is distinguished by the
executive branch of government being dependent on the direct or indirect support of the
parliament, often expressed through a
vote of confidence. Hence, there is no clear-cut
separation of powers between the
executive and
legislative branches, leading to a differing set of
checks and balances compared to those found in a presidential
republic. Parliamentary systems usually have a clear differentiation between the
head of government and the
head of state, with the head of government being the
prime minister or
premier, and the head of state often being an elected (either popularly or through parliament)
president or hereditary
monarch. Though in Parliamentary systems the prime minister and cabinet will exercise executive power on a day-to-day basis, actual authority will usually be bestowed in the head of state, giving them many codified or uncodified reserve powers, providing some balance to these systems. The term parliamentary system does not mean that a country is ruled by different parties in
coalition with each other. Such multi-party arrangements are usually the product of an
electoral system known as
proportional representation. Parliamentary countries that use
first past the post voting usually have governments composed of one party. However, parliamentary systems in continental Europe do use
proportional representation, and tend to produce election results in which no single party has a majority of seats.
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