Head of Government - Parliamentary Heads of Government

Parliamentary Heads of Government

In parliamentary systems, government functions along the following lines:

• The head of government — usually the leader of the majority party or coalition — forms the government, which is answerable to parliament;
• Full answerability of government to parliament is achieved through
  • The ability of parliament to pass a vote of no confidence.
  • The ability to vote down legislative proposals of the government.
  • Control over or ability to vote down fiscal measures and the 'budget' (or 'supply'); a government is powerless without control of the state finances. In a bicameral system, it is often the so-called lower house, e.g. the British House of Commons that exercises the major elements of control and oversight; in some others, e.g. Australia and Italy, the government is constitutionally or by convention answerable to both chambers/Houses of Parliament.

All of these requirements directly impact the Head of government's role. Consequently, they often play a 'day to day' role in parliament, answering questions and defending the government on the 'floor of the House', while in semi-presidential systems they may not be required to play as much of a role in the functioning of parliament.