Misplaced Pages

#388611

57-930: Parliamentary groups may elect a parliamentary leader ; such leaders are often important political players. Parliamentary groups in some cases use party discipline to control the votes of their members. Parliamentary groups correspond to " caucuses " in the United States Congress and the Parliament of Canada . A parliamentary group is sometimes called the parliamentary wing of a party, as distinct from its organizational wing . Equivalent terms are used in different countries, including: Argentina ( bloque and interbloque ), Australia (party room); Austria ( Klub ); Belgium ( fractie / fraction / Fraktion ); Brazil and Portugal ("grupo parlamentar" or, informally, "bancadas"); Germany ( Fraktion ); Italy ( gruppo ), Finland (eduskuntaryhmä/ riksdagsgrupp );

114-406: A conscience vote , voting against the decision of the caucus will result in expulsion from the party entirely if internal discussions fail to dissuade the member from crossing the floor. Even in parties with no such requirement like the conservative Liberal Party of Australia , discipline remains strong and defections against the party are very rare. In India, party discipline in regards to voting

171-624: A floor leader (equivalent to a parliamentary leader). So does the Senate and House of Delegates . In the Philippines, each body of the bicameral Congress has a majority floor leader and a minority floor leader. For the Senate , there is the majority floor leader of the Senate and the minority floor leader of the Senate . For the House of Representatives there is the majority floor leader of

228-425: A number of consequences. Punishment for members who break party discipline largely varies on a case-to-case basis, but members may find themselves in a variety of positions from being internally demoted in the party to being expelled from the party itself. This results in there often being immense pressure for parliamentarians to compromise their beliefs if they conflict with the policy or decision that has been made by

285-401: A party are granted a conscience vote or free vote, in which party discipline is waived, and given members are free to vote to their individual preference. This shared ideology is an essential and important part of party cohesion, and reinforcing the given shared ideology through methods such as party discipline is crucial to the ruling party's survival in government. "It is my will to join

342-537: A region's group of countries') parliament(s), and, in a broader scope, to foster the bilateral relations between said countries. Parliamentary friendship groups play an important role in New Zealand's engagement in inter-parliamentary relations, with group members often called upon to participate and host meetings for visiting delegations from the other part, as well as often being invited by the other country's parliament to visit it. Friendship Groups do not speak for

399-410: A strong sense of cohesion. Strict party discipline allows political parties to maintain control over the entire respective party caucus and ensure that the party's agenda is placed above all else. Increasing levels of party discipline in liberal democracy have often seen the majority of low-ranking elected party members become simple brand ambassadors whose overarching duty is to represent the values of

456-597: A threat to party conformity. Examples of this behaviour include the expulsion of former attorney general Jody Wilson-Raybould from the Liberal Party of Canada in response to her pursuit of criminal proceedings in the SNC Lavalin scandal. Parties often view minority candidates as simple brand ambassadors that check social diversity quotas which has been shown to impair these members from ever doing anything substantive. This, in turn, negatively correlates with

513-472: Is Jacqui Lambie , who won election to the federal senate in 2013 with the Palmer United Party , then quit to start a microparty under her own name only four months later, winning another term after a double dissolution . Following an eligibility issue she was forced to resign in late 2017 due to her British citizenship. Australian law requires the replacement to be from the same party and so she

570-561: Is chosen in Canadian politics to lead their caucus in a legislative body, whether it be the House of Commons or a provincial legislature. They serve as interim legislative leaders, when a party leader either has no seat in the legislative body, during a transition period preceding, or following a leadership contest. Each of the seven political groups of the European Parliament has its own group leader. The groups within

627-519: Is especially true for list MPs , who do not represent an electorate; (as if they do not vote along the party line) they risk staunch discipline. However research does show that proportional voting systems do result in constituent representatives engaging more with their respective ridings while regional (list) MP's often spend more time legislating. Weak party discipline is usually more frequent in parties of notables and elite parties than in populist parties. The centrist Radical-Socialist Party and

SECTION 10

#1732765983389

684-550: Is no more than a simple brand ambassador. This stringent discipline in the Canadian system has, in turn, played a part in what is deemed the presidentialization of the Westminster parliamentary system . The Canadian system has come to possess many characteristics of presidential systems without any of the formal attributes. The position of the Canadian prime minister has seen an increasing level of power which has resulted in

741-492: Is strong enough that a vote by the legislature against the government is understood, by convention, to cause the government to "collapse". Party leaders in such governments also often have the authority to expel members of the party who violate the party line. Within the United Kingdom, the devolved Scottish Parliament uses the mixed member proportionality system of voting and so party discipline tends to be high. That

798-514: Is to support the leadership by enforcing party discipline . In Armenia , political parties often form parliamentary groups before running in elections. Prior to the 2021 Armenian parliamentary elections , four different parliamentary groups were formed. A parliamentary group must pass the 7% electoral threshold in order to gain representation in the National Assembly . Higher electoral thresholds for parliamentary groups discourages

855-407: Is typically led by a parliamentary group leader or chairperson , though some parliamentary groups have two or more co-leaders . If the parliamentary group is represented in the legislature, the leader is almost always chosen from among the sitting members; if the leader does not yet have a seat in the legislature, a sitting member of the group may be expected to resign to make way for him or her. If

912-516: Is used in politics in two closely related, yet distinct, meanings. In a broad sense (also known as party cohesion ), the discipline is adherence of the party members at large to an agreed system of political norms and rules. In a narrow sense, most pronounced under the Westminster model , the party discipline is an obligation of the members of parliament to vote along their party's line , with few exceptions. The deviations might be countered by consequences (" whipping " ) that are designed to ensure

969-417: Is usually an MP responsible for managing the party's business within parliament. Party constitutions will typically distinguish between the parliamentary leader and the organisational leader (who typically is outside of parliament), with the latter often termed a "federal president" or "party president". The two roles are organisationally distinct even if close cooperation is expected. A parliamentary leader

1026-491: The Canadian House of Commons voted the party line 99.6 percent of the time between 2015 and 2019. Canadian MP's also face intense pressure to toe the line when making public remarks inside and outside the legislature. In Italy , party discipline or group discipline as its referred to is required by the statutes of parliamentary groups. This group discipline has registered an oscillation from strong to weak over

1083-674: The French Section of the Workers' International and the French Communist Party which demand near absolute conformity to maintain party membership and good standing. Party discipline tends to be increasingly strong in countries that employ the Westminster parliamentary system , such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand. The Australian Labor Party , for example, requires absolute solidarity with caucus decisions. Apart from extremely rare examples of

1140-501: The Netherlands ( fractie ); Poland ( klub ), Switzerland ( fraction / Fraktion / frazione ); Romania ( grup parlamentar ); and Russia ( фракция/fraktsiya ), Spain ('grupo parlamentario'), and Ukraine ( фракція/fraktsiya ). Generally, parliamentary groups have some independence from the wider party organisations. It is often thought improper for elected MPs to take instructions solely from non-elected party officials or from

1197-488: The Parliamentary Friendship Groups , also called Inter-Parliamentary Friendship Groups , Friendship Parliamentary Groups , or Parliamentary Group of Friendship [and Cooperation] . "Parliamentary Friendship" groups are groups of congresspeople/members of parliament who voluntarily organise themselves to promote parliamentary relations between their own Parliament and another country's (or even

SECTION 20

#1732765983389

1254-515: The United Kingdom Parliament there exist associations of MPs called "all-party parliamentary groups", which bring together members of different parliamentary groups who wish to involve themselves with a particular subject. This term is in a sense the opposite of the term 'parliamentary group', which designates a group that includes only members of the same party or electoral fusion. One special kind of parliamentary groups are

1311-484: The United States Senate , they are elected by their respective party conferences to serve as the chief Senate spokespeople for their parties and to manage and schedule the legislative and executive business of the Senate. By custom, the presiding officer gives the floor leaders priority in obtaining recognition to speak on the floor of the Senate. In the Senate's two-party system, the floor leaders are

1368-442: The legislature . Party discipline is important for all systems of government that allow parties to hold political power , as it can often be a determining factor in both the practical functionality of the government, as well as the efficient function of legitimate political process. Parliamentary groups can have discipline analogous to party discipline. Breaking party discipline in both formal and informal settings may result in

1425-649: The national parliament (in Westminster) who are separate from the party leaders—the party leader may hold office in a devolved (sub-national) parliament or assembly. The party leader of the Scottish nationalist SNP is John Swinney , who serves as first minister of Scotland , and does not sit at Westminster. The parliamentary group of the SNP at the Westminster parliament is led by SNP MP Stephen Flynn . In

1482-626: The Communist Party of China, uphold the Party's program, observe the provisions of the Party constitution, fulfill a Party member's duties, carry out the Party's decisions, strictly observe Party discipline, guard Party secrets, be loyal to the Party, work hard, fight for communism throughout my life, be ready at all times to sacrifice my all for the Party and the people, and never betray the Party." — Chinese Communist Party Admission Oath . Party discipline tends to vary largely depending on

1539-426: The European Parliament are often very broad, so the position of the group leader is a unifying one—they may help to consolidate MEPs with similar outlooks ahead of important votes. The groups are organisationally separate from a European political party , and multiple parties often ally as a single group, thus the distinction between a party and a parliamentary leader is usually strict. In German politics, leaders of

1596-544: The Government of their own country, or even for the whole of the Parliament/Congress to which they belong, as they are usually self-regulating and self-fulfilling. Parliamentary Friendship Groups are active in the national congresses/parliaments of countries such as Armenia, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Israel, Laos, New Zealand, Pakistan, Peru, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, South Korea, Switzerland, and

1653-465: The House and the minority floor leader of the House . Officeholders do not represent political parties but rather political groupings within each body. In British politics , the leader of a party is typically the same person as the parliamentary leader. The leader may not fully control the party bureaucracy. The leader may be chosen by members of parliament (MPs) from among their number, or elected by

1710-501: The United States, among many others. Parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislative body , whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. They are their party's most senior member of parliament (MP) in most parliamentary democracies . A party leader may be

1767-413: The Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Party discipline weakened to a degree in the United Kingdom during Brexit under Theresa May with only a slim majority and intra-party divisions between hard Brexiteers and soft or anti Brexiters; and post 2019 under Boris Johnson (though Johnson has a large majority, making backbench dissent less of a difficulty). An independent evaluation found that MPs in

Parliamentary group - Misplaced Pages Continue

1824-563: The formation of parliamentary groups like Centre-right coalition and Centre-left coalition . In the Swiss Federal Assembly , at least five members are required to form a parliamentary group. The most important task is to delegate members to the commissions. The parliamentary groups are decisive in Swiss Federal Assembly and not the political parties, which are not mentioned in the parliamentary law. In

1881-541: The formation of parliamentary groups running in elections. The parliamentary groups of the European Parliament must consist of no less than 25 MEPs from seven different EU member states . No party discipline is required. Parliamentary groups gain financial support and can join committees. Hungarian mixed-member majoritarian representation rewards the formation of parliamentary groups, like United for Hungary . Italian parallel voting system rewards

1938-481: The governor in both houses of several states' legislatures to guide and advocate for the governor's legislative agenda. Historically, Governor's floor leaders have been selected in Georgia, Louisiana, Illinois, Tennessee, Alabama and California. "Mayor's floor leaders" have also been historically appointed in the city councils of Chicago, Baltimore, and Houston. Party discipline The term party discipline

1995-465: The larger party. While the brand ambassador phenomenon does work to ensure the smooth operation of democracy, it also has several criticism, such as the oppression of dissenting opinions. This oppression of dissenting opinions sees the creation of a virtual barrier for free thinkers. Perspective party members who may vary from political norms in terms of sex, race or gender identity are thus placed at odds with party officials who may view this deviation from

2052-460: The major parties have often been heads of government of the various states rather than members of the national parliament. Hence, the position of parliamentary leader in the federal parliament (Germany also has 16 state parliaments) is often occupied by a different person. The parliamentary leader has the supreme responsibility for coordinating the work of the MPs representing his or her party. Even when

2109-443: The norm as a threat to party cohesion. This proverbial prohibition of those who deviate from the norm in establishment politics includes its tendency to suppress the representation of women and minority members of the party. Research from a variety of global legislatures has indicated that parties tend to only select women and minorities who are extremely partisan loyal. Parties also often systemically weed out members they deem to be

2166-424: The parliamentary and organisational leadership will be held by the same person or people, whether ex officio or not; other parties maintain a sharp distinction between the two offices. Nevertheless, in almost all cases, the parliamentary leader is the public face of the party, and wields considerable influence within the organisational wing, whether or not they hold any official position there. A parliamentary group

2223-417: The parliamentary body in question, or no political office at all, the position of parliamentary leader is frequently held by a different person. In English, the leader may be referred to as a "parliamentary chairman", "group leader", "floor leader", "caucus leader" or simply "parliamentary leader", among other names. In Australian and New Zealand politics , the party figure commonly described as "leader"

2280-413: The parliamentary group. In the House of Representatives , leaders of opposition parties are also their parties' parliamentary leader. Leaders of coalition parties might choose to enter the cabinet, serving as prime minister if their party is the largest in the coalition or otherwise as deputy prime minister . Otherwise they remain parliamentary leaders. The legislatures of most Palauan states have

2337-459: The parties leadership. In order to maintain strict discipline and discourage behaviour such as floor crossing , which entails the given member leaving the party to join another caucus in the legislature, parties often offer a number of incentives to loyal members. These incentives also greatly vary on a case-to-case basis; examples include financial incentives and internal promotion within the party. There are, however, occasions in which members of

Parliamentary group - Misplaced Pages Continue

2394-415: The party is not represented in the legislature for the time being, the leader will often be put forward at a general election as the party's candidate for their most winnable seat. In some parties, the leader is elected solely by the members of the parliamentary group; in others, some or all members of the wider party participate in the election. Parliamentary groups often have one or more whips , whose role

2451-581: The party leader is a member of the national parliament, the parliamentary leader can be a different person. For instance, Friedrich Merz was parliamentary leader while Angela Merkel was party leader for some years while the CDU was in opposition. If the party leader is the chancellor or a member of the government, another person always is the parliamentary leader. In both houses of the Dutch parliament , parliamentary leaders are formally elected by their peers in

2508-587: The position becoming arguably more powerful than some actual presidential systems . The 2015 reforms to Canadian senate sought to increase independence, ideological diversity, and encouraging the exercising of formal powers, by eliminating political parties in the senate. While party discipline has been somewhat loosened, it has not really been effectively loosened as appointees are still likely to follow respective party policy and rhetoric. While senators are now officially unaffiliated with political parties research has shown that they still to tend to largely vote along

2565-480: The prioritization of women and other minority rights. This negative correlation can be seen to drastic effect in the practice of sacrificial lambs in electoral politics. Canadian parliaments have seen an especially drastic rise in party discipline over the past 100 years. In the early 1900s, just 20 percent of elected MPs voted with their respective party 100 percent of the time. The past ten years , however, has seen MPs vote against their party less than 1 percent of

2622-432: The relative cohesion of members of the respective party group. In order to maintain party discipline, given political parties usually appoint a party whip whose primary task it is to maintain party discipline and to ensure the given party members support the party on the floor of the legislature. In liberal democracies , party discipline commonly refers to the control that party leaders have over their caucus members in

2679-523: The right-wing parties during the French Third Republic (1871–1940) all had little to no party discipline. In the United States, the modern Democratic Party and Republican Party both have relatively weaker party discipline in contrast to Westminsters system. That is aptly illustrated by the vote on the federal Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act , in which the only senator to vote against overriding President Barack Obama 's veto

2736-561: The role of House Majority Leader normally goes to the second-highest member of the leadership of the majority party, because it traditionally elects its party leader to the position of Speaker . In contrast House Minority Leader serves as floor leader of the "loyal opposition," and is the minority counterpart to the Speaker. Similar positions exist for state legislatures as for both houses of Congress. In addition, "governor's floor leaders" or "administration floor leaders" may be selected by

2793-430: The same person as the parliamentary leader, or the roles may be separated. In many countries, the position of leader of a political party (that is, the organisational leader) and leader of a parliamentary group are separate positions, and while they are often held by the same person, this is not always or automatically the case. If the party leader is a member of the government, holds a different political office outside

2850-449: The small subset of the electorate represented by party members. In any case, the exigencies of government, the need to cooperate with other members of the legislature and the desire to retain the support of the electorate as a whole often preclude strict adherence to the wider party's wishes. The exact relationship between the parliamentary party and the party varies between countries, and also from party to party. For example, in some parties,

2907-490: The spokespeople from both major parties, elected by their parties. They also serve essentially as executives of their parties within the Senate. The floor leaders are referred to as the Senate majority leader , who belongs to the party with the most senators, and the Senate minority leader , who belongs to the other major party. Similar positions exist in the United States House of Representatives , except that

SECTION 50

#1732765983389

2964-507: The time. This mass conformity has had a drastic effect on Canadian elections, with just 4 to 5 percent of Canadians listing the actual candidate as prioritization in elections. Furthermore, statistics show that voter opinions of local candidates matter in less than 15 percent of elections. Thus Canada has become widely regarded as the parliamentary democracy with the most stringent party discipline. This, in turn, has led to frustration among many Canadian voters who feel their elected representative

3021-646: The type of governmental system of a given country. The term has a somewhat different meaning in Marxist–Leninist political systems such as the People's Republic of China . In this case party discipline refers to actual administrative sanctions such as fines or expulsion that the Chinese Communist Party can impose on its members for actions such as corruption or disagreeing with the party. Other examples of even stronger party discipline include

3078-462: The wider party membership at a party conference , but once elected must retain the support of the parliamentary party. Similarly, the position of prime minister may be given to the parliamentary leader (the party leader, in the case of the two major parties) of the largest political party in parliament , with the expectation they will be able secure and retain the confidence of a majority of MPs. Some smaller parties have parliamentary leaders in

3135-400: The years, defined as a pendulum, depending on the political phase of the government. In Australia the electoral conditions can result in candidates from one of the minor parties or a microparty , elected to government with extremely small vote numbers. Discipline in these small parties is often non-existent and results in the elected member leaving to sit as an independent. An example of this

3192-786: Was replaced by Steven Martin. Martin then refused to resign himself, which would have allowed Lambie to return. He was expelled from the Lambie party, sitting as an independent before joining the Tasmanian Nationals . Party discipline has become increasingly important in the Twenty-First Century due in part to the rise of instant communication. The rise of digital media combined with global hyper- political polarization has caused parties to maintain not only strict party discipline but even stricter message discipline; which has become increasingly important in order to present

3249-558: Was the retiring Democratic minority leader Harry Reid . This can also be seen in Republican failures to repeal Obamacare and the general power wielded by senators with a pivotal vote, such as Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema during the 117th Congress. This looser degree of party discipline in the United States is part due to the structure of the federal presidential republic government which by design enables elected representatives to exercise an increased degree of autonomy as opposed to

#388611