Prime Minister of Australia

The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the head of government in Australia. The individual who holds the office is the most senior Minister of the Crown, the leader of the Cabinet and the chairperson of the National Security Committee. The office is not mentioned in the Constitution of Australia and exists only through an unwritten political convention and tradition. Despite this, in practice it is the most powerful political position in Australia. The individual who holds the office is commissioned by the Governor-General of Australia.

Almost always and according to convention, the Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party or largest party in a coalition of parties in the House of Representatives. However, there is no constitutional requirement that the prime minister sit in the House of Representatives, or even be a member of parliament, though by convention this is always the case. The only case where a member of the Senate was appointed prime minister was John Gorton, who subsequently resigned his Senate position and was elected as a member of the House of Representatives (Senator George Pearce was acting prime minister for seven months in 1916 while Billy Hughes was overseas).

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may 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 systems of government, a prime minister is the official who is appointed to manage the civil service and execute the directives of the head of state.

In parliamentary systems fashioned after the Westminster system, the prime minister is the presiding and actual head of 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) usually holds a largely ceremonial position, although often with reserve powers.

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) that are constitutionally vested in the crown and may be exercised without the approval of parliament.

Prime Minister of Spain

The President of the Government of Spain (Spanish: Presidente del Gobierno), formally known by English-speaking nations and formally translated by the European Commission Directorate-General in English as Prime Minister is the head of Government of Spain. The current office is established under the Constitution of 1978.

The King of Spain nominates a candidate for the presidency who stands before the Congress of Deputies of Spain, the lower house of the Cortes Generales (parliament), for a vote of confidence in a process known as a parliamentarian investiture, effectively an indirect election of the head of government by the elected Congress of Deputies. In practice, the Prime Minister is almost always the leader of the largest party in the Congress. Since current constitutional practice in Spain calls for the King to act on the advice of his ministers, the Prime Minister is effectively the country's chief executive.

Mariano Rajoy Brey of the People's Party has been the prime minister since he was sworn in on December 21, 2011, after winning the 2011 general election.

List of heads of government of Liechtenstein

This is a list of the Regierungschef (Heads of Government or Prime Ministers) of Liechtenstein.

The current Regierungschef is Adrian Hasler, since 27 March 2013.

Prime Ministers of Liechtenstein (1921–present)

See also

External links