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Interpellation is a formal request of a parliament to the respective government. It is distinguished from question time in that it often involves a separate procedure. [1] In many parliaments, each individual member of parliament has the right to submit questions (possibly a limited amount during a certain period) to a member of the government. The respective minister or secretary is then required to respond and to justify government policy. Interpellation thus allows the parliament to supervise the government's activity. In this sense, it is closer to a motion of censure. In English, the parliamentary questioning sense of "interpellation" dates from the late 19th century. It has been adopted from French constitutional discourse.
In some countries, for example Finland, Slovenia and Lithuania, interpellations are more or less synonymous with a motion of no confidence because they are automatically connected with a vote of confidence and their expressed purpose is to determine the confidence enjoyed by the government or a minister. In Finland, the government must reply to an interpellation in a plenary session within 15 days. After receiving the reply to the interpellation, parliament debates the matter and proceeds to vote on whether the government or a particular minister enjoys the confidence of parliament. [2]
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 members known as members of Parliament (MPs), who are elected to represent constituencies by the first-past-the-post system and hold their seats until Parliament is dissolved.
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster in London. Parliament possesses legislative supremacy and thereby holds ultimate power over all other political bodies in the United Kingdom and the Overseas Territories. While Parliament is bicameral, it has three parts: the sovereign, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The three parts acting together to legislate may be described as the King-in-Parliament. The Crown normally acts on the advice of the prime minister, and the powers of the House of Lords are limited to only delaying legislation.
The House of Commons of Canada is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.
A question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers, which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be cancelled in exceptional circumstances. Question time originated in the Westminster system of the United Kingdom, and occurs in other countries, mostly Commonwealth countries, who use the system.
A motion or vote of no confidence is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly as to whether an officer is deemed fit to continue to occupy their office. The no-confidence vote is a defining constitutional element of a parliamentary system, in which the executive's mandate rests upon the continued support of the majority in the legislature. Systems differ in whether such a motion may be directed against the prime minister, against individual cabinet ministers, against the cabinet as a whole, or some combination of the above.
The Parliament of Finland is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The Parliament consists of 200 members, 199 of whom are elected every four years from 13 multi-member districts electing 6 to 37 members using the proportional D'Hondt method. In addition, there is one member from Åland.
The constructive vote of no confidence is a variation on the motion of no confidence that allows a parliament to withdraw confidence from a head of government only if there is a positive majority for a prospective successor. The principle is intended to ensure governments' stability by making sure that a replacement has enough parliamentary support to govern.
The prime minister of Romania, officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania, is the head of the Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled President of the Council of Ministers, when the term "Government" included more than the Cabinet, and the Cabinet was called the Council of Ministers. The title was officially changed to Prime Minister by the 1965 Constitution of Romania during the communist regime.
The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-past-the-post system to represent their respective constituencies, and they hold their seats for five years or until the body is dissolved by the president on the advice of the council of ministers. The house meets in the Lok Sabha Chambers of the Parliament House, New Delhi.
The Parliament of Malaysia is the national legislature of Malaysia, based on the Westminster system. The bicameral parliament consists of the Dewan Rakyat and the Dewan Negara. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King), as the head of state, is the third component of Parliament.
The Council of Ministers of the Republic of Poland is the collective executive decision-making body of the Polish government. The cabinet consists of the Prime Minister, also known as the President of the Council of Ministers, the Deputy Prime Minister, who acts as a vice-chairman of the council, and other ministers. The current competences and procedures of the cabinet are described between Articles 146 to 162 of the constitution.
The Parliament of the Hellenes, commonly known as the Hellenic Parliament, is the unicameral legislature of Greece, located in the Old Royal Palace, overlooking Syntagma Square in Athens. The parliament is the supreme democratic institution that represents the citizens through an elected body of Members of Parliament (MPs).
The National Assembly is one of the two houses (chambers) of the Parliament of Cambodia. It is referred to as the lower house, with the Senate being referred to as the upper house.
The Government of Romania forms one half of the executive branch of the government of Romania. It is headed by the Prime Minister of Romania, and consists of the ministries, various subordinate institutions and agencies, and the 42 prefectures. The seat of the Romanian Government is at Victoria Palace in Bucharest.
The Government of Georgia is the supreme body of executive power in Georgia that implements the domestic and foreign policies of the country. It consists of the prime minister—the head of the government—and ministers and is accountable and responsible to the Parliament of Georgia. The current powers and responsibilities of the government are governed by the amendments of the Constitution of Georgia passed in 2017 and 2018. From 14 May 1991 to 9 November 1996, the executive government of Georgia was referred to as the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Georgia.
The Council of Ministers is the principal executive organ of the Government of Italy. It comprises the President of the Council, all the ministers, and the Undersecretary to the Prime Minister. Deputy ministers and junior ministers are part of the government, but are not members of the Council of Ministers.
Article 49 of the French Constitution is an article of the French Constitution, the fundamental law of the Fifth French Republic. It sets out and structures the political responsibility of the government towards the parliament. It is part of Title V: "On relations between the parliament and the government", and with the intention of maintaining the stability of the French executive the section provides legislative alternatives to the parliament. It was written into the constitution to counter the perceived weakness of the Fourth Republic, such as "deadlock" and successive rapid government takeovers, by giving the government the ability to pass bills without the approbation of the parliament, possible under Section 3 of Article 49.
The 12th Malaysian Parliament is the last meeting of the legislative branch of the government of Malaysia, the Parliament, comprising the directly elected lower house, the Dewan Rakyat, and the appointed upper house, the Dewan Negara. It met for the first time at the Malaysian Houses of Parliament on 28 April 2008 and met for the last time on 29 November 2012. The King then dissolved the Parliament on 3 April 2013. The dissolution was announced by the Prime Minister Najib Razak after it consented by the King.
The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (FTPA) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which, for the first time, set in legislation a default fixed election date for general elections in the United Kingdom. It remained in force until 2022, when it was repealed. Since then, as before its passage, elections are required by law to be held at least once every five years, but can be called earlier if the prime minister advises the monarch to exercise the royal prerogative to do so. Prime ministers have often employed this mechanism to call an election before the end of their five-year term, sometimes fairly early in it. Critics have said this gives an unfair advantage to the incumbent prime minister, allowing them to call a general election at a time that suits them electorally. While it was in force, the FTPA removed this longstanding power of the prime minister.