Parliamentary republic

For other uses of "Parliamentary republic", see Parliamentary Republic.

Parliamentary republics around the world, shown in Orange (Parliamentary republics with a non-executive President) and Light Blue (Parliamentary republics with an executive President linked to Parliament). Constitutional monarchies are shown in red.

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A parliamentary republic or parliamentary constitutional republic is a type of republic which operates under a parliamentary system of government - meaning a system with no clear-cut separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches. There are a number of variations of parliamentary republics. Most have a clear differentiation between the head of government and the head of state; with the head of government holding real power, much like constitutional monarchies. Some have fused the roles of head of state and head of government, much like Presidential systems.

For the first case mentioned above, in particular, the form of executive-branch arrangement is distinct from most other parliamentary and semi-presidential republics which separate the head of state (usually designated as the "president") from the head of government (usually designated as "prime minister", "premier" or "chancellor") and subject the latter to the confidence of parliament and a flexible tenure in office while the head of state lacks either dependency, and investing either office with the majority of executive power.

Powers

Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese and former President of Poland Aleksander Kwaśniewski. Both were heads of state of Parliamentary republics.

In contrast to republics operating under either the presidential system or the semi-presidential system, the head of state usually does not have broad executive powers as an executive president would, because many of those powers have been granted to a head of government (usually called a prime minister).

However, in a parliamentary republic with a head of state whose tenure is dependent on parliament, the head of government and head of state may form one office (as in Botswana, Guyana, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and South Africa; as well as Switzerland, in which the Swiss Federal Council is the head of state and head of government collectively), but the president is still selected in much the same way as the prime minister is in most Westminster systems. This usually means that they are the leader of the largest party or coalition of parties in parliament.

In some instances, the president may legally have executive powers granted to them to undertake the day-to-day running of government (as in Finland) but by convention they either do not use these powers or they use them only to give effect to the advice of the parliament and/or head of government. Some parliamentary republics could therefore be seen as following the semi-presidential system but operating under a parliamentary system.

Historical development

Typically, parliamentary republics are states that were previously constitutional monarchies with a parliamentary system, with the position of head of state hitherto a monarch. However, the first parliamentary republic, the new Swiss Confederation formed in 1803, was created from a loose confederation of independent Cantons.

Following the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War, France once again became a republic - the French Third Republic - in 1870. The President of the Third republic had significantly less executive powers than the previous two republics had. The third republic lasted until the invasion of France by Nazi Germany in 1940. Following the end of the war, the French Fourth Republic was constituted along similar lines in 1946. The Fourth Republic saw an era of great economic growth in France and the rebuilding of the nation's social institutions and industry after the war, and played an important part in the development of the process of European integration which changed the continent permanently. Some attempts were made to strengthen the executive branch of government to prevent the unstable situation that had existed before the war, but the instability remained and the Fourth Republic saw frequent changes in government - there were 20 governments in ten years. Additionally, the government proved unable to make effective decisions regarding decolonization. As a result, the Fourth Republic collapsed and what some critics considered to be a de facto coup d'état, subsequently legitimized by a referendum on 5 October 1958, led to the establishment of the French Fifth Republic in 1959.

Chile became the first Parliamentary republic in South America following a civil war in 1891. However, following a coup in 1925 this system was replaced by a Presidential one.

Commonwealth of Nations

Often, former Governors-General in Commonwealth realms became the first President when the country became a republic. For example, William Gopallawa was the last Governor-General of Ceylon and the first President of Sri Lanka.

Main article: Commonwealth of Nations

Since the London Declaration of 29 April 1949 (just weeks after the Ireland declared itself a republic and excluded itself from the Commonwealth) republics have been admitted as members of the Commonwealth of Nations. A number of these republics kept the Westminster Parliamentary system inherited during their British colonial rule.

In the case of many republics in the Commonwealth of Nations, it was common for the Sovereign, formerly represented by a Governor-General, to be replaced by an elected non-executive head of state. This was the case in with South Africa (which left the Commonwealth soon after becoming a republic), Malta, Trinidad and Tobago, India and Vanuatu. In many of these examples, the last Governor-General became the first president. Such was the case with Sri Lanka.

Others, such as Samoa became parliamentary republics upon gaining independence.

List of current parliamentary republics

Country	Formerly	Parliamentary republic adopted	Head of state elected by
Albania	One-party state	1991	Parliament, by majority
Austria	One-party state	1955	Directly, by second-round system
Bangladesh	Presidential republic (Commonwealth realm)	1971	Parliament
Botswana	British protectorate (Bechuanaland Protectorate)	1966	Parliament
Bosnia and Herzegovina	One-party state (Part of Yugoslavia)	1991	Directly, by second-round system
Bulgaria	One-party state	1989	Directly, by second-round system
Cape Verde	Portuguese colony	1975	Directly
Croatia	Semi-presidential republic	2000	Directly, by second-round system
Czech Republic	One-party state (Part of Czechoslovakia)	1993	Parliament, by majority
Dominica	British overseas territory	1978	Parliament, by majority
East Timor	Military junta (Occupied by Indonesia)	1999	Directly, by second-round system
Estonia	Constitutional monarchy (Part of Russian Empire)	1918	Parliament, by two-thirds majority
Ethiopia	One-party state	1991	Parliament, by two-thirds majority
Finland	Constitutional monarchy (Part of Russian Empire)	1919	Directly, by second-round system
Germany	One-party state	1949	Federal assembly (Parliament and state delegates), by absolute majority
Greece	Military junta; Constitutional monarchy	1975	Parliament, by majority
Haïti	One-party state	1860	Parliament, by majority
Hungary	One-party state	1990	Parliament, by absolute majority
Iceland	Formerly part of Denmark - constitutional monarchy	1944	Directly, by transferable vote
India	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm)	1950	Parliament and state legislators, by single transferable vote
Iraq	One-party state	2005	Parliament, by two-thirds majority
Ireland	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm)	1936	Directly, by single transferable vote
Israel	Protectorate (Part of British Mandate of Palestine)	1948	Parliament, by majority
Italy	Constitutional monarchy	1946	Parliament, by majority
Kiribati	Protectorate	1979	Citizens
Kyrgyzstan	Presidential republic	2010	Parliament
Latvia	Constitutional monarchy (Part of Russian Empire)	1918	Parliament
Lebanon	Protectorate (French mandate of Lebanon)	1941	Parliament
Lithuania	Constitutional monarchy	1918	Directly, by second-round system
Macedonia	One-party state (Part of the Yugoslavia)	1991	Directly, by second-round system
Malta	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm)	1974	Parliament, by majority
Marshall Islands	UN Trust Territory (Part of Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands)	1979	Parliament
Mauritius	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm)	1992	Parliament, by majority
Federated States of Micronesia	UN Trust Territory (Part of Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands)	1986	Parliament
Mongolia	One-party state	1949	Directly
Montenegro	One-party state (Part of Yugoslavia)	1992	Directly, by second-round system
Nauru	Australian Trust Territory	1968	Parliament
Pakistan	Presidential and Semi-presidential system, and Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm)	1956–1958, 1973–1978, 1988–1999, 2010–present	Parliament and state legislators, by single transferable vote
Poland	One-party state	1990	Directly, by second-round system
Portugal	One-party state (Military junta transition)	1976	Directly, by second-round system
Samoa	Territory of New Zealand	2007	Parliament
Serbia	One-party state (Part of Yugoslavia)	1991	Directly, by second-round system
Singapore	Constitutional monarchy (Part of Malaysia)	1965	Directly, by second-round system
Slovakia	One-party state (Part of Czechoslovakia)	1993	Parliament (before 1999) Directly, by second-round system (since 1999)
Slovenia	One-party state (Part of Yugoslavia)	1991	Directly, by second-round system
South Africa	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm)	1961	Parliament, majority
Suriname	One party Military Dictatorship	1987	Parliament, by two-thirds majority.
Switzerland	Military junta (Occupied by France)	1802	Parliament
Trinidad and Tobago	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm)	1976	Parliament
Turkey	Constitutional monarchy (Ottoman Empire)	1923	Directly (since 2007, previously by parliament)
Vanuatu	British-French condominium (New Hebrides)	1980	Parliament and regional council presidents, by majority

• ^ A. In Bangladesh, a Caretaker government takes over for three months during parliamentary elections. The Caretaker government is headed by a Chief adviser (the last Chief Justice to retire), and a group of neutral, non-partisan advisers chosen from the civil society. During this time, the president has jurisdiction over the Ministry of defense and the Ministry of foreign affairs. Presidential system was established in the country between 1975 and 1991.
• ^ B. The three Baltic states were parliamentary republics after declaring their independence from the Russian Empire in 1918, but were all occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940. After regaining independence by 1991, all three countries resumed to parliamentary democracy.
• ^ C. In the case of the former West German states, including former West Berlin, the previous one-party state is Nazi Germany, but in the case of the New Länder and former East Berlin it is East Germany. Please note that German reunification took place on 3 October 1990, when the five re-established states of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) joined the Federal Republic of Germany, and Berlin was united into a single city-state. Therefore, this date applies to today's Federal Republic of Germany as a whole, although the area of former East Germany was no part of that parliamentary republic until 1990.
• ^ D. Irish head of state from 1936 to 1949
• ^ E. If not achieved, two highest polling candidates continue to electoral college of regional councils as well as parliament, like in the French Third Republic.
• ^ F. There is neither a prime minister nor a president of Switzerland. The President of the Swiss Confederation is merely primus inter pares in the Swiss Federal Council, the seven-member executive council which constitutes the government as well as the head of state of Switzerland.)

List of former Parliamentary republics

Country	Year became a Parliamentary republic	Year status changed	Changed to	Status changed due to
Brazil	1961	1963	Presidential system	Referendum
Chile	1891	1925	Presidential system	Referendum
French Third Republic	1870	1940	Presidential system	World War II German Occupation
French Fourth Republic	1946	1958	Semi-presidential system	Political instability
Fiji	1987	2006	Military Junta	Military coup (2006)
Guyana	1970	1980	Semi-presidential system	Constitutional amendment
Indonesia	1945	1959	Presidential system	Constitutional amendment
Nigeria	1963	1979	Presidential system	Constitutional amendment
Philippines	1978	1987	Presidential system	Ratification of the 1987 Constitution
Russia	1991	1993	Semi-presidential system	Referendum
Rhodesia	1970	1979	Parliamentary system	Creation of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia
Sri Lanka	1972	1978	Presidential system	Constitutional amendment
Uganda	1963	1966	Presidential system	Suspension of the constitution
Zimbabwe Rhodesia	1979	1979	Parliamentary system	Creation of Southern Rhodesia
Zimbabwe	1980	1987	Presidential System	Constitutional amendment

• ^ A. Post of President of Russia is created, and development of separation of powers is started, some of Supreme Soviet's executive powers is transferred to new post. Before that, Russia was a Soviet republic.
• ^ B. Preceded by crisis and armed dissolving of the Supreme Soviet of Russia, then-parliament of the Russian Federation.

See also

• Constitutional republic
• Republicanism