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Parliament
- Alternate use: Parliament (band)
- For Parliamentarism, see: Parliamentary system
A parliament is a legislative body, especially in those countries whose system of government is based on the Westminster system derived from that of the United Kingdom. The name is derived from the French parlement , the action of parler (to speak) : a parlement is a talk, a discussion, hence a meeting (an assembly, a court) where people discuss matters.
The Dutch Parliament
Once elected, the Dutch Politicians sit in rows, grouped by their party affiliation
The British Parliament is traditionally referred to as the "Mother of Parliaments", as it has been the model for most other parliamentary systems and its Actss have created so many other parliaments. The first English Parliament was called into being in the reign of King Henry III in the 13th century. In the United Kingdom, Parliament consists of the House of Commons, the House of Lords, and the Monarch. The House of Commons is composed of over 600 members who are directly elected by British citizens to represent various cities, communities, and other electoral districts. The party that can win the most seats in the House of Commons forms the government, and the party leader becomes the Prime Minister, and head of government. Legislation originates from members of the House of Commons, who then vote on it, and if passed it goes on to the House of Lords. The House of Lords is a body of long-serving, un-elected members who are appointed by the ruling government. The Lords must vote to approve all legislation from the House before it can go before the monarch and recive the formal ratification to become a law, however under certain circumstances the House of Commons may overrule it using the Parliament Acts.
In a similar fashion, most other nations with parliaments have to some degree emulated the British, "three-tier" model. Most countries in Europe and the Commonwealth have similarly organized parliaments with a largely ceremonial Head of State who formally opens and closes parliament, a large elected lower house (usually called the "House of Represenatives") and a smaller, upper house. The lower house is almost always the originator of legislation, and the upper house is the body that offers the "second look" and decides wheter to veto or approve the bills. This style of two houses is called bicameral; also parliaments with only one house exist (see unicameralism).
A parliament's lower house is usually composed of at least 200 members, in countries with populations of over 3 million. The number of seats rarely exceeds 400, even in very large countries. The upper house customarily has anywhere from 20, 50, or 100 seats, but almost always significantly less than the lower house.
A nation's Prime Minister is almost always the leader of the majority party in the lower house of parliament, but only holds his or her office as long as the "confidence of the house" is maintained. If members of parliament lose faith in the leader for whatever reason, they can often call a vote of no confidence and force the PM to resign. New elections are often called shortly thereafter.
Parliaments can be contrasted with Congresses in the model of the United States. Congresses do not typically select or dismiss the head of government.

See also
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United Kingdom Parliament Composed of the House of Commons, elected by single-member plurality for a period of not more than five years, and the appointed (and for a few members inherited) House of Lords. http://www.parliament.uk/
Irish Parliament Also knowns as the Houses of the Oireachtas; composed of Dáil Éireann (House of Deputies) and Seanad Éireann (Senate). http://www.irlgov.ie/oireachtas/
Denmark - Folketinget Danish parliament of 179 members elected by a variant of an additional member system. http://www.folketinget.dk/
Norwegian Parliament The Stortinget of 165 members, of which 157 are from constituencies and 8 are additional members. http://www.stortinget.no/english/
Austrian Parliament Österreichisches Parlament, consisting of the Nationalrat (National Council) and the Bundesrat (Federal Council). http://www.parlinkom.gv.at/
Belgium Federal Parliament Senate and Chamber of Representatives. http://www.fed-parl.be/ukindex.html
Australia - Parliament of Australia Consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate. http://www.aph.gov.au/
Netherlands - Eerste Kamer Senate of 75 members, elected by the members of the twelve Provincial Councils. http://www.eerstekamer.nl/cgi-bin/pdcsns.cgi?dir=/9202000/g/%26filename=/9202000/h1.sns%26via=1pdi%26v01=english
Liechtenstein - Diet Unicameral body elected by proportional representation, with ten members from the Lower Country electoral district and fifteen from the Upper Country. http://www.firstlink.li/eng/regierung/landtag.htm
Malta - House of Representatives Unicameral elected body. http://www.parliament.gov.mt/
Romania - Chamber of Deputies Containing 341 members elected using a proportional list system. http://diasan.vsat.ro/
Poland - Sejm Main chamber of the parliament. http://www.sejm.gov.pl/english.html
Poland - Senate Chamber of the parliament. http://www.senat.gov.pl/indexe.htm
India - Parliament of India Composed of the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People). http://ParliamentofIndia.nic.in/
India - Rajya Sabha The Council of States elected by the states' assemblies. http://rajyasabha.nic.in/
New Zealand - House of Representatives Elected from 62 General and 7 Maori constituencies, with additional members for proportionality. http://www.parliament.govt.nz/
Bulgaria - National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria Elected for a four-year term and consisting of 240 members. http://www.Parliament.bg/
Georgia Parliament. http://www.parliament.ge/
Spain - Senate House of territorial representation of the Cortes Generales, with most provinces electing four senators. http://www.senado.es/home_i.html
Jersey - The States of Jersey Originally composed of the three estates, the Jurats (justices), the Connétables (the heads of the parishes) and the Rectors (from the churches). http://www.statesassembly.gov.je/
Italy - Chamber of Deputies The Camera dei deputati, with content in English, French and Italian. http://english.camera.it/
Micronesia - Congress of the Federated States of Micronesia Unicameral national legislature consisting of 14 Senators, one from each of the States of Kosrae, Pohnpei, Chuuk, and Yap for a four-year term, and ten Members for two years. http://www.fsmgov.org/congress/
Portugal Assembly of the Republic (Assembleia da República). http://www.parlamento.pt/ingles/index.html
France - National Assembly Consists of 577 deputies, each of whom is elected in a constituency either with an absolute majority of votes (more than half the votes) at the first ballot or a relative majority (the largest number of votes) at the second ballot. http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/
France - Senate Upper house of the French parliament. http://www.senat.fr/
South Korea - National Assembly of the Republic of South Korea Composed of not fewer than 200 members, elected for four years. http://eng.assembly.go.kr/
Albanian Parliament Single-chamber parliament elected for four years under additional-member system. http://www.parlament.al/
Japan - House of Councillors The Sangiin, the upper house of the National Diet. http://www.sangiin.go.jp/
Japan - House of Representatives The Shugiin, the Lower house of the National Diet. http://www.shugiin.go.jp/
Slovenia - Drzavni zbor The National Assembly, with more detail in Slovenian. http://www.dz-rs.si/
Sweden - Riksdag Unicameral body containing 349 members from 29 different constituencies. http://www.riksdagen.se/
Switzerland - Parliament Bicameral system consisting of 200-member National Council and 46-member Council of States. http://www.parliament.ch/
Turkey - Grand National Assembly Five-hundred-and-fifty-member body elected for a five-year period. http://www.tbmm.gov.tr/
Thailand - House of Representatives Composed of 500 members, 400 elected from constituencies and 100 from party lists. http://www.parliament.go.th/
Thailand - Senate With lists of committee members and more information in Thai. http://www.senate.go.th/
Spain - Congress Primary chamber of the Cortes Generales elected by a proportional system. http://www.congreso.es/ingles/
Malagasy National Assembly Chamber of 138 members. Site mostly in French. http://www.assemblee-nationale.mg/
South Africa - Parliament of South Africa Composed of the National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces. http://www.parliament.gov.za/
Uganda - Parliament of Uganda Includes history and constitution. http://www.parliament.go.ug/
Singapore - Parliament of the Republic of Singapore Elected from multi-member constituencies, with some additional members. Pending bills, publications, member directory, and educational resources available. http://www.parliament.gov.sg/
Latvia - Saeima Unicameral parliament of 100 members elected by proportional representation. http://www.saeima.lv/
Lithuania - Seimas Composed of 141 members elected for a four-year term. http://www.lrs.lt/
Romania - Senate One hundred and forty-three member body elected using a proportional list system. With more content in Romanian. http://www.senat.ro/
Andorra - Consell General With a list of the 'Consellers' and contact details. More information available in Spanish. http://www.consell.ad/
Armenia - National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia Site lists the members of various committees, with more information in Armenian. http://www.parliament.am/
Canada - Parliament of Canada Composed of the Queen, represented by the Governor General, the appointed Senate, and the elected House of Commons. http://www.parl.gc.ca/
Cyprus - House of Representatives Composed of 80 members, 56 elected by the Greek community and 24 by the Turkish community. http://www.parliament.cy/
Czech Republic - Chamber of Deputies Site has lists of commitees, commissions and delegations, and more in Czech. http://www.psp.cz/
Czech Republic - Senate Eighty-one member elected body. http://www.senat.cz/
Estonia - Riigikogu The Parliament of the Republic of Estonia, elected by proportional representation with a 5% cutoff. http://www.riigikogu.ee/
European Union - European Parliament Single-chamber body elected by several overlapping systems. Site has content in all EU languages. http://www.europarl.eu.int/
Faroe Islands - Føroya Løgting Single-chamber elected from seven constituencies, with powers under Denmark's Home Rule Act 1948. http://www.logting.fo/
Fiji - Parliament of the Fiji Islands Consisting of the Senate and House of Representatives. http://www.parliament.gov.fj/
Finland - Suomen Eduskunta The Parliament of Finland, a unicameral body of 200 members elected on a proportional basis. http://www.eduskunta.fI/
Germany - Bundesrat The Federal Council is the Chamber of the Länder, the federal states, such that only one member votes on behalf of each state, casting all the state's votes. http://www.bundesrat.de/
Germany - Bundestag The Federal Diet, composed of at least 598 Members, of whom 299 are elected in the constituencies and a further 299 via a list-based additional member system with a 5% cutoff. http://www.bundestag.de/
Greece - Hellenic Parliament Includes a history of the constitution. http://www.parliament.gr/
Hong Kong Legislative Council Consisting of 60 Members, with 24 Members elected from geographical constituencies, 30 Members by functional constituencies, and 6 Members by an Election Committee comprising 800 elected representatives of the community. http://www.legco.gov.hk/
Hungary - Parliament of the Republic of Hungary Also known as the National Assembly (Az ország háza). http://www.Mkogy.hu/
Iceland - Alþingi The Icelandic parliament dates back to 930AD, now having 63 members from eight constituencies. http://www.althingi.is/
Viet Nam - National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam With details of the constitutional status of the Quoc Hoi. http://www.na.gov.vn/english/
Barbados - Parliament of Barbados Composed of the 28-member House of Assembly, elected by the first-past-the-post system, and the 21-member appointed Senate. http://www.parliamentbarbados.gov.bb/
Isle of Man - Manx Parliament The Tynwald, dating back to the eighth century, and composed of the House of Keys and the Legislative Council. http://www.tynwald.org.im/
Netherlands - House of Representatives of the States General Tweede Kamer der Staten-Generaal, elected by proportional representation. http://www.tweede-kamer.nl/organisatie/communicatie/internationaal/
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