Presidential and Parliamentary system: a comparison

{ November 23, 2006 @ 7:57 pm } · { Political and Government Systems }

Presidential and Parliamentary system: a comparison

by: Karla Katigbak

          Philippines is now facing challenges on what system of government can make a proggressive country. For you, is it a Parliamentary or a Presidential system?
          Parliamentary system is distinguished by the executive branch of government being dependent on the direct or indirect support of the parliament often expressed through a vote of confidence. A parliament is a legislative. The name is derived from the french parliament, the action of parler (to speak) in parliament is a talk, a discussion, hence a meeting where people discuss matters of parliamentary government. The authority is vested in a parliament and there is no clear cut in separation of powers between the executive and legislative branches, leading to a lack of the checks and balances found in a presidential republic. In a parliamentary system, people vote the members of the parliament and from the members of the parliament they will vote for their prime minister and the vote of no confidence can be done by the members of the parliament if they thought that the prime minister is not capable enough to lead. There are many advantages of a parliamentary systyem. First is that it is easierand quicker to to pass legislation with in a parliamentary system. This is because the executive branch is dependent upon the direct or indirect support of the legislative branch and often includes members of the legislative. Second, the World bank study found that parliamentary systems are associated with lower corruptions. Lastly, parties in parliamentary system have had much tighter idelogy than in presidential system.There are also criticism of parliamentarism and the main criticism of many parliamentary system is that the head of the government cannot be directly voted by the people. In presidential system, the presidents is directly chosen by the people , or by a set of electors directly chosen by the people but in a parliamentary system the prime minister is elected by the party leadership. There are also many kinds of parliamentary system like the British Parliament which is often referred to as the ” Mother of Parliaments”. It is from England and it is the model form of other paraliamentary system.
          Presidential system, also called a congresional system, is a system of government where the executive branch exists and presides supports from the legislative. There are many characteristics of a presidential system of goverment. One is that the president is both the head of state and the government and he/she has a fixed term of office. The president has also the power to pardon or commute sentences of convicted criminals and he/she is directly elected by the people. The president can be removed from office through the process of impeachment. There are also criticism in a presidential system like it is not constitutionally stable that’s why it has tendency towards authoritarianism. It is also difficult to remove an unsuitable president from office before his/her term has expired. In a presidential system, the president usually has special privileges in the enactment of legislation, namely the possession of a power of veto over legislation of bills. In the enactment of legislation, the president has the power to directly propose laws or cast or vote on legislation. The central principle in presidential system is that the difference between legislative and executive branches of government. The executive, legislative and judiciary are performing their own duty and this is the separation of power but they must check each other to make sure if the other branches is performing their job properly and this is the check and balance.
          There are many difference between parliamentary and presidential system and they have their own disadvantages and advantages. Some of our government officials are pursuing for presidential to parliament and others are contented. But still the question is what is the best for our country and for the people? For me, any system will do as long as it will benefit the people. Any system can make our life better , the real problem is the character of our government officials.

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