Parliaments and Lawmaking Flashcards
What is representative democracy?
- Institutions elected by the people take decisions on their behalf:
- Even groups which are opposed to the majority should be heard
- It is important to have regular elections, to reflect popular preferences, to protect minorities and to ensure that parliament is accountable to the citizens - Parliament exercises two main functions:
- Legislation
- Control (of other institutions)
What are the general principles for democratic elections?
- General (everyone)
- Free
- Direct
- Equal (every vote has the same value)
- Secret
What are ‘general elections’?
The idea that everyone should vote.
This is still restricted though (by age, nationality…)
What is a majoritarian system?
- The candidate who wins a defined majority of votes wins
- ‘Winner-takes-all’ effect – Voters do not want to waste their votes on small candidates therefore we see a two-party political landscape
- Ensures a stable government (because only 2 parties) but under-represents smaller parties
What is a proportional system?
- The number of parliamentary seats that a political party wins is proportional to its share of the vote turnout.
- It reflect the public opinion better
- Less stable government – Government can be very fragmented. To avoid that, most countries establish a threshold to be able to secure a seat in Parliament
- Fewer votes are ‘wasted’
What are the different voting systems in a majoritarian system?
- First-past-the-post:
- The territory of a state is divided into electoral districts which elect one parliamentarian each
- The number of districts is equal to the number of seats in parliament
- The candidate only needs to have one vote more than the other candidates to win. - Absolute majority of votes – More than half of the total votes
- Run-off system:
- A candidate needs absolute majority to win
- If no candidate receives an absolute majority in first round, a second round is held with only the strongest candidates - Alternative vote system:
- First round everybody votes and classifies the candidates by order of preference
- If no one obtains absolute majority, the votes of the lowest candidates will be re-attributed based on the 2nd preference on the ballot, etc., etc… Until one wins by absolute majority
What is the list system?
List system - Still proportional
- Voters vote for a party
- Parliamentary seats are filled by candidates of the party from a pre-established list
How is parliament organized in federations?
- The upper chamber represents the sub-units of the state and is elected in local elections
- The lower chamber represents the federation as a whole and is elected in national elections
What is parliamentary privilege?
- Parliamentarians enjoy protection from legal actions against them
- Why?
- Because they need to be protected for what they write and say in context of parliamentary proceedings
- To allow them to express themselves freely without fear of sanctions - The idea is not that they can go unpunished but rather that only parliament can discipline its members
US - How is the House of Representatives elected?
- Main features:
- 2 years
- Directly elected
- 435 members
- Members of the House enjoy limited immunity, their speech in the House is protected but they can be ousted by a 2/3 majority - The number of seats for each State depends on its population number but at least one per State
- Each State can choose the election method it wants for its representatives but:
- There is a method of single-member constituencies
- Each state is divided in as many congressional districts as it has representatives, each district elects one representative
- To win a district, a candidate must obtain a plurality of votes (at least one more)
- If they are equal, the State determines what happens
US - How is the Senate elected?
- Main features:
- To represent the individual States at federal level
- 2 senators from each State = 100 Senators
- For 6 years, but the Senators are not re-elected all at once, 1/3 is re-elected every 2 years
- It is presided over by the Vice-President of the US which will only casts its vote if the result is tied
- Specific powers – It gives advice and consent to treaties and appointments of federal judges and officials - Single-member constituency principle:
- Each State is one constituency
- Each State decides for itself how to elect its 2 Senators but most use a first-past-the-post system - The Senate votes by simple majority but for controversial bills, the filibuster rule applies where 60 votes are required to call for a vote (this means that you are voting to call for a vote, there will be 2 votes)
US - What is ‘gerrymandering’?
• A practice by which district borders are chosen tactically by the current government in the State to put the opponent’s candidate at disadvantage (in the House of Rep.):
- The opposition friendly population will be divided into different districts so that it cannot win
- On the other hand, government friendly population will be grouped together to secure a seat in the House of Representatives
US - Why do we see the emergence of a 2-party landscape in the Senate?
- Because voters tend to only back promising candidates so that they do not ‘waste’ their votes
- Because this is a first-past-the-post system, small candidates do not stand a chance
- This allows candidates to differ widely within one party, compared to European systems, and small candidates can join big parties via the primaries
US - Legislative procedure
- Legislative initiative:
- By both the House and the Senate
- The House has the sole power to initiate tax bills - Power of amendment:
- In both chambers
- Bills will be referred for detailed consideration to a committee which will discuss amendments and vote
- If adopted, the bill will be sent back to each chamber
- If one chamber wants to amend the bill as proposed by the other, it will be sent to a ‘conference committee’ which can propose amendments and reach a compromise before the bill is sent back to each chamber which will again vote on it. At this point, this is a yes or no question, there cannot be any further changes to the bill - Veto power:
- In both chambers, since approval by both is required
- The President signs bills into law. That way, he has some kind of veto but only for a bill as a whole (‘take-it-or-leave-it’) – Congress can use that to pack in one bill matters which the President enjoys and hates so that he will sign it either way
- Regular veto power – The President sends the bill back to the Chamber where the bill 1st originated together with his objections. That Chamber can override the President’s veto by 2/3 majority of members present. After, the bill will be sent to the 2nd chamber, with the President’s objections, and once again that Chamber can override the veto by 2/3 majority of members present.
- Pocket veto – The President does not sign not veto the bill, the bill becomes law anyways within 10 working days excluding Sundays unless Congress has adjourned within that period. - Together, both chambers have the power to declare war
GER - What are the main features of the Bundestag?
- Lower chamber
- 4 years
- Statutory size of 598 members (but can reach much higher numbers)
GER - What is the election system in the Bundestag?
- Germany is divided into 299 constituencies
- The elections have 2 stages:
- 1st, you vote for a candidate
- 2nd, you vote for a party - 1st stage:
- First-past-the-post system, the candidate with a plurality of votes will win the district - 2nd stage:
- The seats will be distributed depending on the number of votes each party won
- Threshold of 5% or 3 districts
- Each party must receive at least as many seats as the number of constituencies which the party won in the Land in question (= ‘balance seats’) - To ensure proportional representation, regional representation and a direct link with voters
GER - What is the problem with a first-past-the-post system in the Bundestag elections?
- Because small-party candidates stand no chance of winning a district, voters tend to not vote for them to avoid ‘waste’.
- To remedy to that:
- Big parties need coalition to ensure a stable government
- They agree to borrow some 2nd stage votes to the small parties so that they can still be represented
- Otherwise, small national parties which have a strong regional representation will focus on winning 3 districts
GER - What are the mean features of the Bundesrat?
- Upper Chamber
- Composed of ministers of the governments of each Länder
- The representation is determined by each state:
- No fixed term, the composition changes every time the government changes
- No election date
- No term of office, the Bundesrat cannot be dissolved - What matters is the number of votes each Land has:
- Min. 3 votes
- Depending on population (Art. 51(2))
- Over-represents smaller Länder
- Each State sends as many representatives as it has votes
- All votes must be cast en bloc
GER - Legislative process
- Power of initiative:
- Limited by exclusive and concurrent competences as well as the EU
- Bundestag (by 1 political party of 5% of members), Bundesrat (as a whole by absolute majority) and federal government
- Bills are always 1st sent to the Bundestag, but if the government initiated it than the Bundesrat can read it before (but not vote on it, just for consideration) - Bundestag:
- 3 reading
- 1st reading – Main features are discussed, the bill is sent to a committee for further consideration
- 2nd reading – Second reading, the committee proposes amendments
- 3rd reading – Final amendments, the bill as a whole is voted on - Ordinary legislative procedure:
- Bundesrat’s consent is not required
- 1st objection in the conciliation committee, it can suggest amendments
- If the bill still passes the Bundestag, the Bundesrat can object again
- The Bundesrat can be overruled by absolute majority of Bundestag members
- By 2/3 majority of votes, the Bundestag need 2/3 majority of votes to overrule
- Must object within 2 weeks - Bundesrat’s consent is required:
- Must pass with an absolute majority of total votes or 2/3 when provided - The President signs the bill into law:
- Checks constitutionality and respect for HR
UK - How is the House of Commons elected?
- To represent the people of the UK
- 5 years
- The UK territory is divided into 650 constituencies:
- Each constituency has 1 member
- By plurality of votes
UK - Can the House of Commons be dissolved?
- If the House of Commons passes a motion to that effect:
- By 2/3 majority of members - If a vote of no confidence is not followed by a vote of confidence in the government within 14 days
UK - How is the House of Lords elected?
- The House of Lords is not elected
- Appointed chamber divided into 2 categories:
- Lords Spiritual – Archbishops and bishops
- Lords Temporal – Non-clerical peers, composed of life peers and hereditary peers (which are now abolished)
- Appointed by the King upon advice of the Prime Minister
UK - What is a royal prerogative?
- An area of law in which the King can exercise discretionary power
- To declare war and make peace
- To conclude a treaty
- To appoint ministers and peers
- Once a statute is adopted on the area, the prerogative will be replaced by it
UK - Legislative process
- Different bills:
- Public bills are bills of general application
- Private member’s bills – Introduced by individual members of the Commons
- Government bills – Introduced by the government - Power of initiative:
- House of Lords
- House of Commons
- Government - Power of amendment:
- Both Houses - 5 stages:
- 1st reading – House of Commons is merely given notice of the bill
- 2nd reading – The bill’s main principle are debated but no amendment
- Committee stage – Detailed scrutiny and amendment
- Report stage – The committee reports and the House votes on it
- 3rd reading – The bill is debated and voted on as a whole - After, the bill is sent to the House of Lords and follows the same process:
- If the 2 Houses do not agree, then the bill is ping-ponged between the 2
- Otherwise, the Commons can use the Parliament’s act to pass the bill if they adopt it in two consecutive parliamentary sessions with a least a year between the 1st 2nd reading and the final adoption
- Money bills can be referred within 1 month without approval of the Lords so to prevent this it avoids objection - Royal assent – In principle the King does not refuse to sign the bill into law