Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician. In many systems, the prime minister selects and can dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the Government. In most systems, the prime minister is the presiding member and chairman of the cabinet. In a minority of systems, notably in semi-presidential system of government, a prime minister is the official who is appointed to manage the civil service and execute the directives of the president.

In parliamentary systems fashioned after the Westminster system, the prime minister is the presiding and actual head of the government and head of the executive branch. In such systems, the head of state or the head of state's official representative (i.e the Monarch, President, or Governor-General), although officially the head of the executive branch, in fact holds a ceremonial position. The Prime Minister is often, but not always, a member of parliament and is expected with other ministers to ensure the passage of bills through the legislature.

In some monarchies the monarch may also exercise executive powers (known as the Royal Prerogative) which are constitutionally vested in the Crown and can be exercised without the approval of parliament.As well as being Head of Government, a prime minister may have other roles or titles – the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, for example, is also First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service. Prime ministers may take other ministerial posts – for example during the Second World War Winston Churchill was also Minister of Defence (although there was then no Ministry of Defence). Former Australian prime minister Gough Whitlam was famous for forming his cabinet entirely of himself and his deputy as soon as the overall result was beyond doubt at the 1972 federal election (see First Whitlam Ministry).

The post of prime minister may be encountered both in constitutional monarchies (such as Belgium, Denmark, Japan, The Netherlands, Norway, Malaysia, Spain,[2] Sweden, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), and in republics in which the head of state is an elected official (such as Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Portugal, Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Turkey) or an unelected official (such as Singapore before 1993) with varying degrees of real power. This contrasts with the presidential system, in which the President (or equivalent) is both the head of state and the head of the government. See also "First Minister" , "Premier", "Chief Minister", "Chancellor" , "Taoiseach" and "Secretary of state": alternative titles usually equivalent in meaning to, or translated as, "prime minister."

In some presidential or semi-presidential systems, such as those of France, Russia or South Korea, the prime minister is an official generally appointed by the President but usually approved by the legislature and responsible for carrying out the directives of the President and managing the civil service. (The premier of the Republic of China is also appointed by the president, but requires no approval by the legislature. Appointment of the prime minister of France requires no approval by the parliament either, but the parliament can force the resignation of the government.) In these systems, it is possible for the president and the prime minister to be from different political parties if the legislature is controlled by a party different from that of the president. When it arises, such a state of affairs is usually referred to as (political) cohabitation.