In some systems, members of the legislature are not elected by the people, but by other elected representatives. The United States Senate was structured in this way; Members of state legislatures, directly elected by the public, had the power to vote for members of the Senate. Although this practice ended in the United States in the early 20th century, similar practices still exist around the world. In the National People`s Congress in China, members of the national legislature are elected by provincial parliaments, which are elected by the lower levels of the assemblies. This means that a delegate to the National People`s Congress must go through numerous elections at successive higher levels of government, although the first level he or she must pass through is the public.46 This electoral conception probably means that members of the National People`s Congress are more closely linked to other elected officials and the political party than to ordinary voters. This process may take some time, but it will eventually lead to a more harmonious adoption of legislation. Mixed systems combine aspects of proportional representation and the first-past-the-post system. Although each mixed system is slightly different, the South Korean National Assembly, where 253 seats are elected by majority vote in one-man constituencies and another 47 seats nationally by proportional representation, is a clear example of how these systems can work. Mixed systems often use proportional seats to compensate for distortions in representation resulting from first-past-the-post voting.
For example, if a party received 44% of the vote nationally, but won more than 51% of the majority seats based on the results obtained in individual constituencies, proportional seats could be adjusted to compensate for less representative majority results.40 There is also a hybrid model that relies on both the presidential and parliamentary systems. for example, the French Fifth Republic. Much of Eastern Europe has adopted this model since the early 1990s. Citizens in the United States like the presidential system very much, but in reality, the success rate of parliamentary systems is much higher. The system has been part of some European countries for centuries, but that doesn`t mean it`s perfect. When deciding which system to adopt, new countries must take into account what is best for their country, and it may or may not be a parliamentary system. Parties in parliamentary systems had much closer ideological cohesion than parties in presidential systems. It would be difficult for a parliamentary system to have a party like the Democratic Party of the United States, which until the 1980s was a coalition of conservative Protestants („Dixiecrats“) and urban liberals without a unified ideology. In a parliamentary system, a party like this would generally fragment because, when in power, it may not be able to govern effectively.
After fragmentation, however, the resulting parties could join a governing coalition. Many in the United States may be aware that most European governments use a parliamentary system, but the question most are likely to ask is: what is a parliamentary system? More importantly, how does it differ from the system used by the United States? Here are the answers to these questions and more. Control in parliamentary systems and, consequently, the relationship between the legislative and executive branches are very different. Since the executive branch is part of the legislature, it is the minority party, not another branch of government, that is primarily responsible for oversight. Minority parties can use methods such as Question Time to question the majority government and then disclose that information to gain support. Since parliamentary governments depend on public support to stay in power, a minority party that can influence public opinion and possibly cause majority members to defect in votes can seriously control the power of the majority party. If a majority party is so large, with such public support, that the minority party`s threat to become public becomes ineffective, the majority party may impede the minority party`s oversight efforts. On the other hand, parliamentary systems clearly distinguish between the head of government and the head of state. In this system, the head of government and parliament are the prime minister. Instead of voting in a general election, Parliament elects the Prime Minister.
Citizens elect members of Parliament. In addition, Parliament forms the legislature of the government. A major criticism of many parliamentary systems is that the head of government cannot be voted directly. Occasionally, an electorate will be surprised to know who is elevated to the premiership. In a presidential system, the president is elected directly by the people or by a group of voters directly elected by the people, but in a parliamentary system, the prime minister is elected by the party leadership.