Misplaced Pages

Parliamentary opposition

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from Official Opposition) Form of political opposition within a parliamentary system of government For other uses, see Opposition (politics).
This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources.
Find sources: "Parliamentary opposition" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2021)
Part of the Politics series
Party politics
Political spectrum
Left-wing
Centre
Right-wing
Major ideologies
Types
Leaders and organization
Internal elections
Party discipline
Party systems
Coalitions between parties
Lists of political parties
icon Politics portal

Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term government as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning the administration or the cabinet rather than the state. In some countries, the title of "Official Opposition" is conferred upon the largest political party sitting in opposition in the legislature, with said party's leader being accorded the title "Leader of the Opposition".

In first-past-the-post assemblies, where the tendency to gravitate into two major parties or party groupings operates strongly, government and opposition roles can go to the two main groupings serially in alternation.

The more proportionally representative a system, the greater the likelihood of multiple political parties appearing in the parliamentary debating chamber. Such systems can foster multiple "opposition" parties which may have little in common and minimal desire to form a united bloc opposed to the government of the day.

Some well-organised democracies, dominated long-term by a single faction, reduce their parliamentary opposition to tokenism. In some cases, in more authoritarian countries, tame "opposition" parties are created by the governing groups in order to create an impression of democratic debate.

Some legislatures offer opposition parties particular powers. In Canada, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand, 20 days each year are set aside as "Opposition Days" or "Supply Days", during which the opposition gets to set the agenda. Canada also has a Question Period, during which the opposition (and the Parliament generally) can ask questions of government ministers.

See also

References

  1. Fontana, David (2009). "Government in Opposition" (PDF). The Yale Law Journal. 119: 575.
Categories: