Parliamentary republic

For other uses of "Parliamentary republic", see Parliamentary Republic (disambiguation).

Map of different governmental systems

  Constitutional monarchies in which authority is vested in a parliament.

  Parliamentary republics where parliaments are effectively supreme over a separate head of state.

  Parliamentary republics with an executive president elected by and responsible to a parliament.

A parliamentary republic (or parliamentary constitutional republic) is a type of republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the executive branch (the government) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). 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, but with a dependency upon parliamentary power.

For the first case mentioned above, in particular, the form of executive-branch arrangement is distinct from most other parliamentary and semi-presidential republics that 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

Mary McAleese, President of Ireland (1997–2011) and Aleksander Kwaśniewski, President of Poland (1995–2005). 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, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, South Africa and Suriname), 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 Austria) but by convention they either do not use these powers or they use them only to give effect to the advice of the parliament 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.

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

Main article: Commonwealth of Nations

Since the London Declaration of 29 April 1949 (just weeks after 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 and Pakistan.

Others became parliamentary republics upon gaining independence.

List of modern parliamentary republics

Main article: List of countries by system of government § Parliamentary republics

Country	Formerly	Parliamentary republic adopted	Head of state elected by	Cameral structure
Albania	One-party state	1991	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral
Austria	One-party state (as part of Nazi Germany, see Anschluss)	1945	Directly, by second-round system	Bicameral
Bangladesh	Presidential republic	1991	Parliament	Unicameral
Bosnia and Herzegovina	One-party state (Part of Yugoslavia)	1991	Directly, by second-round system	Bicameral
Botswana	British protectorate (Bechuanaland Protectorate)	1966	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral
Bulgaria	One-party state	1989	Directly, by second-round system	Unicameral
Croatia	Semi-presidential republic	2000	Directly, by second-round system	Unicameral
Czech Republic	One-party state (Part of Czechoslovakia)	1993	Directly, by second-round system (since 2013; previously Parliament, by majority)	Bicameral
Dominica	Associated state of the United Kingdom	1978	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral
Estonia	One-party state (Part of Soviet Union)	1991	Parliament, by two-thirds majority	Unicameral
Ethiopia	One-party state	1991	Parliament, by two-thirds majority	Bicameral
Fiji	Military junta	2014	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral
Finland	Semi-presidential republic	2000	Directly, by second-round system	Unicameral
Germany	One-party state	1949	Federal assembly (Parliament and state delegates), by absolute majority	Bicameral
Greece	Military junta; Constitutional monarchy	1975	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral
Guyana	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm)	1970	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral
Hungary	One-party state	1990	Parliament, by absolute majority	Unicameral
Iceland	Formerly part of Denmark; Constitutional monarchy	1944	Directly, by majority vote	Unicameral
India	Constitutional monarchy (British Dominion)	1950	Parliament and state legislators, by single transferable vote	Bicameral
Iraq	One-party state	2005	Parliament, by two-thirds majority	Unicameral
Ireland	Constitutional monarchy (British Dominion)	1949	Directly, by single transferable vote	Bicameral
Israel	Protectorate (Part of British Mandate of Palestine)	1948	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral
Italy	Constitutional monarchy	1946	Parliament, by two-thirds majority	Bicameral
Kiribati	Protectorate	1979	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral
Kyrgyzstan	Presidential republic	2010	Directly, by second-round system	Unicameral
Latvia	One-party state (Part of Soviet Union)	1991	Parliament	Unicameral
Lebanon	Protectorate (French mandate of Lebanon)	1941	Parliament	Unicameral
REDIRECT Template:Country data North Macedonia Macedonia	One-party state (Part of the Yugoslavia)	1991	Directly, by second-round system	Unicameral
Malta	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm)	1974	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral
Marshall Islands	UN Trust Territory (Part of Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands)	1979	Parliament	Bicameral
Mauritius	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm)	1992	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral
Federated States of Micronesia	UN Trust Territory (Part of Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands)	1986	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral
Moldova	Semi-presidential republic	2001	Parliament, by three-fifths majority	Unicameral
Montenegro	One-party state (Part of Yugoslavia, and after Serbia and Montenegro)	1992	Directly, by second-round system	Unicameral
Nauru	Australian Trust Territory	1968	Parliament	Unicameral
Nepal	Constitutional monarchy	2015	Parliament and state legislators	Unicameral
Pakistan	Presidential and semi-presidential republic	2010	Parliament and state legislators, by single transferable vote	Bicameral
Poland	One-party state	1990	Directly, by second-round system	Bicameral
Samoa	Constitutional monarchy	2007	Parliament	Unicameral
San Marino	Roman Empire	301	Parliament	Unicameral
Serbia	One-party state (Part of Yugoslavia)	1991	Directly, by second-round system	Unicameral
Singapore	Constitutional monarchy (Part of Malaysia)	1965	Directly	Unicameral
Slovakia	One-party state (Part of Czechoslovakia)	1993	Parliament (before 1999) Directly, by second-round system (since 1999)	Unicameral
Slovenia	One-party state (Part of Yugoslavia)	1991	Directly, by second-round system	Bicameral
Somalia	One-party state	2012	Parliament	Bicameral
South Africa	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm)	1961	Parliament, by majority	Bicameral
Suriname	Military Dictatorship	1987	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral
Trinidad and Tobago	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm)	1976	Parliament	Bicameral
Turkey	One-party state	1946	Directly (since 2007, previously by parliament)	Unicameral
Vanuatu	British-French condominium (New Hebrides)	1980	Parliament and regional council presidents, by majority	Unicameral

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
Burma	1948	1962	Military Junta	1962 Burmese coup d'état
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
Hungary	1946	1949	One-party state	Creation of the People's Republic of Hungary
Indonesia	1945	1959	Presidential system	Constitutional amendment
Second Republic of South Korea	1960	1961	Presidential system	May 16 coup
Lithuanian First Republic	1920	1926	One-party state	1926 Lithuanian coup d'état
Nigeria	1963	1979	Presidential system	Constitutional amendment
Pakistan	1956	1958	Military Dictatorship	1958 Pakistani coup d'état
	1973	1978		1977 Pakistani coup d'état
	1988	1999		1999 Pakistani coup d'état
Second Polish Republic	1918	1939	One-party state	Invasion of Poland
Portuguese First Republic	1910	1926	Military Dictatorship (which led in 1933 to the Estado Novo One-party state)	May 28 coup
First Philippine Republic (Malolos Republic)	1899	1901	Military Dictatorship (De facto USA Colony)	Capture and Surrender of Emilio Aguinaldo to the American forces
Fourth Philippine Republic	1978	1987	Presidential system	Ratification of the 1987 Constitution
Republic of the Congo	1960	1965	Military Dictatorship (De facto One-party state)	1965 Congolese coup d'état
Russia	1991	1993	Semi-presidential system	Referendum
Rhodesia	1970	1979	Parliamentary system	Creation of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia
Spanish Republic	1931	1939	Fascist Dictatorship	Loss of Spanish Civil War
Sri Lanka	1972	1978	Semi-presidential system	Constitutional amendment
Syrian Republic	1930	1958	One-party state	Creation of the United Arab Republic
Syrian Arab Republic	1961	1963	One-party state	1963 Syrian coup d'état
Uganda	1963	1966	One-party state	Suspension of the constitution
Zimbabwe Rhodesia	1979	1979	Parliamentary system	Creation of Southern Rhodesia
Zimbabwe	1980	1987	Presidential system	Constitutional amendment

See also

• Parliamentary system
• Constitutional republic
• Republicanism
• List of countries by system of government