Parliamentary vote is the process of electing members of a legislative body and determining how they govern. Countries around the world practice democracy through different types of institutions, but most have parliamentary systems. In a parliamentary system, voters choose representatives based on the political parties that they belong to. During elections, the party that wins the most votes forms a government and selects its leader who becomes the Prime Minister. A parliamentary system also has a number of rules that regulate the behavior of political parties, members and citizens.
A parliamentary system generally includes a bicameral legislature, a requirement for a majority to pass a motion, and committees that have the power to initiate legislation. Parliamentary systems differ from one another, but many follow a Westminster model, which uses either a closed or open list of candidates for each seat and a majority-voting system for debating. Some of these systems, such as those in Norway and the United Kingdom, employ strict monism, meaning that ministers must be simultaneously members of the parliament. Others, such as those in the Netherlands, Slovakia and Sweden, allow extra-parliamentary ministers.
Most parliamentary democracies have checks and balances on the legislative branch, but in a few nations, including Great Britain, New Zealand and the Netherlands, there are no constitutional or judicial review of laws passed by Parliament. In these cases, the only check on a Parliament’s lawmaking is a popular vote that can immediately displace a government that has lost the people’s trust.