Parliamentary Government
The form of government where the relationship between the legislature and
executive is close and the executive’s stability and functional capacity
depend on the legislature is called a parliamentary form of government or
cabinet form of government. In this system, executive powers are vested in the
hands of the ministers. The party which wins the general election forms the
cabinet. The trusted person in the party becomes the prime minister. He
appoints ministers from the important members of the party and distributes
portfolios among them.
Usually, ministers are selected from among the legislators or members of
parliament. That is why this form of government is called the parliamentary
form of government. Bangladesh, India, the UK, Canada, Sweden, and Australia
have a parliamentary form of government.
This kind of government has a constitutional president. But the cabinet of
ministers under the leadership of the prime minister holds real administrative
power. In this system, the importance of the prime minister is the highest. In
fact, the president does not do anything without the advice of the prime
minister.
In the parliamentary form of government, the legislative council holds
absolute power. The cabinet, including the prime minister, is accountable to
the legislative council for its activities. The cabinet falls if they lose the
confidence of the legislative council. Besides, a member has to resign if
parliament brings a motion of no confidence against him/her. In this system,
the same person holds both legislative and administrative power because
ministers are selected from parliament members.
Merits of Parliamentary Government
The merits of parliamentary government are as follows:
Responsible governance: Parliamentary government is a responsible
government. Here, ruling and opposition parties are both accountable to the
people for their deeds.
Relations between the legislature and the executive: As members of the
executive are the members of the legislature, the relationship between these
two remains cordial and friendly.
Status of opposition: In this form of government, the opposition is
said to be an alternative government. In times of national crisis, both the
ruling and opposition parties can solve problems through discussion.
Opposition is an integral part of the parliamentary system.
Opportunity for criticism: In this system, the Members of the
Parliament (MPs) both from the ruling or the opposition sides criticize the
government. The government maintains self-restraint in its activities and
tries to do good activities.
It gives a political lesson: Parliamentary government is run by public
opinion. To keep public opinion in their favor, both ruling and opposition
parties remain active. They engage themselves in debates in the parliament.
Thereby, the people become politically conscious.
Demerits of Parliamentary Government
The parliamentary form of government has demerits. They are-
Absence of stability: Parliamentary government may suffer from
instability. If the cabinet loses its confidence in the legislature or loses
its majority, the government collapses. This sort of situation might
destabilize the country. For this reason, the parliamentary government is
called the tyranny of the majority.
Indivisibility of power: Legislative and executive powers are vested in
one center i.e., in the hands of the cabinet leading the ministers to be
autocratic.
Too much partisan mentality: Parliamentary government is primarily a
party government. In this system, the formation and stability of the
government depend on the majority of the party in parliament. Naturally, the
parties are given much importance. Both ruling and opposing parties work with
an extreme partisan mentality. As this government is a party government, many
ministers are appointed to the cabinet without considering their competence
and merit. National interest, therefore, is hampered.
Delay in decision-making: In this form of government, decisions are
made after a lot of discussions and suggestions. Many activities are not
possible to perform in time.
