Canada's Political System

In Canada, there are 3 levels of government. Each level of government has different responsibilities.
Federal government (the Government of Canada) - Responsible for things that affect the whole
country, such as citizenship and immigration, national defense and trade with other countries.
Provincial and territorial governments (for example, the Province of Ontario) - Responsible for such
things as education, health care and highways.
Municipal (local) governments (cities, towns, and villages in Ontario) - Responsible for firefighting,
city streets and other local matters. If there is no local government, the province provides services.
Federal Government at the federal level, there are 3 parts of government:
Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada, is Canada's formal head of state. The Governor General represents the
Queen in Canada and carries out the duties of head of state.
The House of Commons makes Canada's laws. Canadians elect representatives to the House of
Commons. These representatives are called Members of Parliament (MPs) and usually belong to a
political party. The political party that has the largest number of MPs forms the government, and its
leader becomes prime minister.
The prime minister is the head of government in Canada. The Prime Minister chooses MPs to serve as
ministers in the cabinet. There are ministers for citizenship and immigration, justice and other
subjects. The cabinet makes important decisions about government policy.
The Senate reviews laws that are proposed by the House of Commons. Senators come from across
Canada. The prime minister chooses the senators.
You can read the Guide to the Canadian House of Commons for more information.
Provincial Government
At the provincial level:
The Lieutenant Governor represents the Queen.
The Legislative Assembly makes law. In Ontario, elected representatives are called Members of
Provincial Parliament (MPPs).
The political party that has the largest number of MPPs forms the government, and its leader
becomes premier. The premier is the head of government in Ontario.
The premier leads the government and chooses MPPs to serve as ministers in the cabinet. The
cabinet sets government policy and introduces laws for the Legislative Assembly to consider.

South Koreas Political System

The political system of South Korea is based on a Republic form of government with the President as
Chief of the State and Prime Minister as the Head of Government. Powers of the government is
shared between the executive, legislature and judiciary. The Cabinet comprises of a council of
ministers who are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. The
political system of South Korea continues to suffer from the aftermath of several years authoritarian
rule.

The Executive
The executive is headed by the President, followed by the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. The
President is the Head of State who is elected by popular vote for a single term of five years. The
Prime Minister is the Head of Government who is appointed by the President with the approval of the
National Assembly. The Deputy Prime Ministers are also appointed by the President on the
recommendation of the Prime Minister. The Cabinet consists of the State Council who is appointed by
the President on the Prime Minister's advice of the Prime Minister. Executive functions are performed
by the President while the Prime Minister's responsibilities involve supervision of administrative
functions of the ministries. The function of the Cabinet members is to act on policy matters and is
accountable to the President.
The present President of South Korea is Roh Moo-hyun and the Present Prime Minister is Han Ducksoo. The current three Deputy Prime Ministers of South Korea are Kim Woo-sik, Kwon o-kyu and Kim
Shin-il.
The Legislature
The legislative branch consists of the unicameral National Assembly, the members of which are
elected for a four-year term. There are 299 members in the National Assembly of which 243 members
are in single seat constituencies and 56 are elected by proportional representation. The last National
Assembly elections were held 15 April, 2004.
Judiciary
The judiciary in South Korea is independent of the Executive and the Legislature. The judiciary is
made up of the three courts- Supreme Court, appellate Court and the Constitutional Courts. The
Supreme Court is the highest court in the judiciary and the justices of which are appointed by the
President on the approval of the National Assembly. The Constitutional Court justices are appointed
by the President partly based on the nominations by the Chief Justice and National Assembly.
Major political parties of South Korea areDemocratic Labor Party or DLP
Democratic Party or DP
Grand National Party or GNP
People-First Party
Uri Party
Other key ministers of South Korea areIndustry, commerce, and energy : Kim Young-joo
Defense Minister : Kim Jang-soo
Foreign affairs and trade Minister : Song Min-soon
Labor Minister : Lee Sang-soo
Health and welfare Minister : Rhyu Si-min
Construction and Transportation : Lee Yong-sup

Government administration and home affairs : Park Myung-jae

Information and communications : Rho Jun-hyong
Minister of Justice : Kim Sung-ho
Planning and budget Minister : Chang Byoung-wan
Unification Minister : Lee Jae-joung
Unlike the American political system [click here] and the British political system [click here] which
essentially have existed in their current form for centuries, the present Japanese political system is a
much more recent construct dating from Japan's defeat in the Second World War and its subsequent
occupation by the United States. The post-war constitution of 1947 is an anti-militarist document
which includes the renunciation of the right to wage war and prohibits the maintenance of armed
forces (Article 9) although later a limited re-armament was permitted ("self-defence forces").
The constitution was drawn up under the Allied occupation and drafted in a matter of days. It is a
rigid document and, since its adoption, no amendment has been made to it. Article 96 stipulates that
any amendment requires a two-thirds majority of both houses in the Diet plus the consent of a
majority of those voting in a referendum. The current government has already passed a law
specifying that any such referendum does not require a minimum turnout and it is hoping to pass
another law to scale down the requirment for a two-thirds majority in the two houses to a simple
majority.
Unquestionably Japan is a democratic country, but it is a very different kind of democracy to that
prevailing in most of Europe in countries like France [click here] and Germany [click here]. The single
most important reason for this is the dominant position of one party - the Liberal Democratic Party which has held power almost unbroken for more than 50 years.

Japans Political System

THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH
Japan is a constitutional monarchy (like Britain) where the power of the Emperor is very limited. As a
ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity
of the people". This is a dramatic contrast to the situation prior to Japan's wartime defeat by the
Americans when the Emperor was regarded as divine.
The Prime Minister is chosen for a term of four years, although the political turbulence of the
Japanese system is such that he rarely serves a full term. He must win a majority in the Diet in a
single signed ballot. If the two houses cannot reach agreement, the decision of the House of
Representatives always prevails. The official residence of the Prime Minister is called the Kantei (a
new building was opened in 2002).
Shinzo Abe of the Liberal Democratic Party currently serves as the Prime Minister, a position he held
before in 2006-2007. He is Japan's seventh Prime Minister in six years.
The Prime Minister choses his Cabinet which is limited by a constitutional amendment of 2001 to an
additional 14 regular members with the possibility of three special members. At least half of the
Cabinet must be members of the Diet.
THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH

The Japanese legislature is called the Kokkai or Diet and is a bicameral structure. Generally decisions
are made on a majority vote, but a two-thirds majority is required in special cases.
The lower house in the Japanese political system is the Shugi-in or House of Representatives. It has
480 seats and members serve a four-year term, although only once since the war has a full term
been served (the average is two and a half years). Of the 480 seats, 300 are elected from singlemember constituencies and the other 180 are elected from 11 multi-member constituencies by a
system of proportional representation. Candidates for election to the House of Representatives must
be at least 25 years old. Previously voters have had to be at least 20 years old but, in 2016, the
voting age will be reduced to 18, adding some 2.4 million people to the electorate.
The House of Representatives has preeminence over the House of Councillors and can pass a vote of
no confidence in the Cabinet as a whole. The House of Representatives can be dissolved by the Prime
Minister or by a Cabinet no confidence vote. Since the last election was in December 2014, the next
election has to be before December 2018.
Link: House of Representatives click here
The upper house in the Japanese political system is the Sangi-in or House of Councillors. It has 242
seats and members serve a six-year term. Only half of its membership is re-elected at each election
every three years, using a parallel voting system. Of the 121 members subject to election each time,
73 are elected from the 47 prefectural districts by the single transferable vote method and 48 are
elected from a nationwide list by proportional representation. This element of proportional
representation was introduced in 1982 in an effort to combat the effect of huge sums of money being
spent on election campaigns. Candidates for election to the House of Councillors must be at least 30
years old.
The House of Councillors cannot be dissolved. The next election is due in July 2016.
Link: House of Councillors
If the two houses disagree on matters of the budget, treaties, or designation of the Prime Minister,
the House of Representatives can insist on its decision. In all other decisions (such as the passage of
a Bill), the House of Representatives can override a vote of the House of Councillors only by a twothirds majority of members present.
POLITICAL PARTIES
Traditionally the Japanese political system has been dominated by one party in a manner unknown in
the democracies of Europe and North America. That party is the conservative Liberal Democratic
Party (LDP). Since its founding in 1955, it has been in power at all times, except for a short-lived
coalition government formed from opposition parties for 11 months in 1993 and for the recent threeyear period August 2009-December 2012. In the election of December 2012, it stormed back to
power with 294 seats in the House of Representatives. The LDP is led by Shinz Abe.
The other main party is the social liberal Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). It was formed in 1998 from
a merger of four previously independent parties that were opposed to the ruling LDP. In the general
election of August 2009, it won a convincing victory, taking 308 of the 480 seats. In the election of
December 2012, the party's support collapsed to only 57 seats. However, at the time, it remained the
largest party in the House of Councillors. This situation, whereby different parties control the two
houses, is known in Japan as a "twisted Diet". In the elections to the House of Councillors in July 2013,
the LDP regained a majority in this chamber, so now we are back to the norm for Japan. For the first

time, the Democratic Party is led by a woman, Renho Murata who holds dual Japanese and Taiwanese
nationality .
Another important party is New Kmeit which traditionally allies itself with the Liberal Democratic
Party. In the December 2012 election, it won 31 seats. This means that the LDP and New Kmeit
combined command 325 votes in the lower house which gives them a supermajority in the 480seat lower house of parliament: that is, more than the two-thirds of seats necessary to override a
veto by the upper house.
Another party, the Japan Restoration Party, was only formed three months before the last election to
the House of Representatives in December 2012 but managed to win 54 seats - more than the
previous governing party, the DPJ.
Public funding of political parties was introduced in 1994.
The Japanese political system is very different from those of the western democracies, although the
institutions may initially look similar.
The Kokkai or Diet has little real authority; traditionally the factions within the Liberal Democratic
Party have been more important than the other political parties; Cabinet meetings are brief and
largely ceremonial; and the Prime Minister is weaker than his counterpart in other democracies and
usually has a relatively brief tenure in office. Power in Japanese society is wielded less by politicians
and more by civil servants and industrialists. This triumvirate of politicians, bureaucrats and big
business is known in Japan as "the Iron Triangle".
Some observers felt that the general election of August 2009, which resulted in a Democratic Party
government, had fundamentally changed things, but the return of the Liberal Democratic Party in
December 2012 brings the Japanese political system back to its historic norm. In fact, the power of
the established civil service bureacracy and the deep economic problems facing the nation mean that
in practice the changes in policy will not be as major as the election result might suggest.
There are significant moves in Japan for the constitution to be revised so that it becomes 'a normal
country', able to maintain and deploy military forces, and a more traditional country, in which rights
are balanced by obligations. In 2012, the LDP published a draft of a new constitution, but each
political party wants different changes and no agreement will be achieved quickly if at all.
Meanwhile many in Japan are keen for its economic power to be reflected now in the political
structures of the United Nations with the country admitted to permanent membership of the Security
Council.

Singapores Political System

The Constitution
The Constitution of Singapore is the supreme law of the Republic of Singapore. It lays down the
fundamental principles and framework for the Executive, the Legislative and the Judiciary the three
organs of the state. The constitution cannot be amended without the approval of more than twothirds of the members of the parliament on the second and third readings.
Part IV of the fourteen-part Constitution contains the guarantee of the fundamental liberties of
Singapore citizens: liberty of the person; prohibition of slavery and forced labour; protection against
retrospective criminal laws and repeated trials; equal protection under the law; prohibition of
banishment and freedom of movement; freedom of speech, assembly and association; freedom of
religion; and rights in respect of education.
The Parliament
Together with the President of Singapore, the Parliament is known as the Legislature. The Parliament
has a single house and is modeled after the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. The
Westminster system has Members of Parliament who are voted in at General Elections. The leader of
the political party that secures the most seats in Parliament becomes the Prime Minister (PM). The PM
will choose his Ministers from elected MPs to form the Cabinet. The life of each Parliament is 5 years
from the date of its first sitting after a General Election. The General Elections are held within 3
months of the dissolution of the Parliament.
The Parliament has three major functions: making laws, controlling the states finances and
performing the critical/inquisitorial role to check on the actions of the governing party and the
Ministries.
The Structure of the Parliament
The Speaker of the Parliament The Speaker of the Parliament chairs the sittings of the House and
enforces the rules prescribed in the Standing Orders of Parliament for the orderly conduct of the
parliamentary business.
The Government The President appoints the Prime Minister and the other Cabinet Members from
among the elected MPs. The Prime Minister leads the Cabinet in the administration of the
Government.
Leader of the House The Leader of the House is responsible for the arrangement of Government
business and the legislative program of Parliament.
Party Whip Party whips safeguard good communication within the party and contribute to the
smooth running of the partys parliamentary machinery.
Members of the Parliament MPs act as a bridge between the people and the government by
ensuring that concerns of the people are heard in the Parliament.

Parliament Secretariat The Secretariat assists Parliament in its functions and in all matters related
to its procedures and practices, the organisation of its business and the undertakings of its
committees.
Singapores Political Parties
Singapores ruling party is the Peoples Action Party (PAP), which was established on 21 November
1954. The PAP began as a unity of two left-wing factions the pro-socialist wing led by Lee Kuan Yew
and the pro-communist wing led by Lim Chin Siong. The latter soon broke away from the PAP. The PAP
is the longest-surviving and most successful political party in Singapores history.
The 2006 elections saw three main opposition parties the Workers Party (WP), the Singapore
Democratic Alliance (SDA) and the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).
Singapores active parties, to date, are:
Democratic Progressive Party
National Solidarity Party
Peoples Action Party
Peoples Liberal Democratic Party
Reform Party
Singapore Democratic Alliance
Singapore Democratic Pary
Singapore Justice Party
Singapore Peoples Party
Singapore National Front
Workers Party
Singapore has a total of 43 active, dormant and historical parties.
The Election Cycle
The Presidential Elections
The legislation governing the conduct of the Presidential Election are:
The Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (The Government, Part V);
The Presidential Elections Act;
The Political Donations Act; and
Subsidiary Legislations.
The President is elected by the citizens of Singapore, and as the Head of State, holds office for a term
of 6 years. The Presidential elections have to be conducted within 6 months after the office of the
President becomes vacant prior to expiration of the term of office of the incumbent; or not more than
3 months before the date of expiration of the term of office of the incumbent.

The Parliamentary Elections

The legislation governing the conduct of the Presidential Election are:
The Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (The Legislature Part VI);
The Parliamentary Elections Act;
The Political Donations Act; and
Subsidiary Legislations.
The Candidates can only mount their election campaigns after the close of nomination up to the eve
of the polling day. On the polling day, each voter will receive a poll card containing information on
where he (or she) can cast the vote in person. Voting is compulsory and votes are confidential. The
results of the elections are then published in the governments gazette.
The Cabinet
The Cabinet is responsible for all government policies and the day-to-day administration of the affairs
of the state. The Cabinet is led by the Prime Minister and consists of other ministers. The various
ministries include Community Development, Youth and Sports, Defence, Education, the Environment
and Water Resources, Finance, Foreign Affairs, Health, Home Affairs, Information, Communications
and the Arts, Law, Manpower, National Development, Trade and Industry, and Transport.
Secretariat and administrative support to the Cabinet is provided by the Cabinet Office, headed by
the Secretary to the Cabinet. To view a complete list of the current members of the Cabinet,
see Singapore Cabinet Appointments.

Frances Political System

THE PRESIDENCY
Four of France's five Republics have had presidents as their heads of state, making the French
presidency the oldest presidency in Europe still to exist in some form. However, in each of the
Republics' constitutions, the President's powers, functions and duties - and his relation with French
governments - have differed. Under the Third and Fourth Republic, which were parliamentary
systems, the office of President of the Republic was a largely ceremonial and powerless one. The
constitution of the current Fifth Republic greatly increased the President's powers.
Consequently the Presidency is easily the most powerful position in the French political system.
Duties include heading the armed forces, appointment of the Prime Minister, power to dismiss the
National Assembly, chairing the Council of Ministers (equivalent to the Cabinet in Britain), appointing
the members of the highest appellate court and the Constitutional Court, chairing the Higher Council

of the Judiciary, negotiating all foreign treaties, and the power to call referenda, but all domestic
decisions must be approved by the Prime Minister. The President has a very limited form of
suspensive veto: when presented with a law, he or she can request another reading of it by
Parliament, but only once per law.
The official residence of the President is the Elyse Palace.
Since 1875, the President has been barred from appearing in person before the National Assembly or
the Senate in order to ensure that the executive and the legislature are kept seperate. However, in
2008, a constitutional amendment was carried which enables the President to convene the Congress
of the French parliament in order to make a declaration. A debate may then follow his declaration,
without his presence.
Candidates for the Presidency must obtain 500 sponsoring signatures of elected officials from at least
30 departments or overseas territories. The post is directly elected in a two-stage voting system. A
candidate who receives more than 50% of the vote in the first round is elected. However, if no
candidate receives 50%, there is a second round which is a run-off between the two candidates who
secured the most votes in the first round. This is held two weeks later. All elections are held on a
Sunday.
The term is five years, a reduction from the previous seven years. A President can seek a second
term and normally secures it, but two Presidents of the Fifth Republic have failed a re-election bid:
Valry Giscard d'Estaing and Nicolas Sarkozy.
In the French political system, the relationship between the President and the Prime Minister - the
first- and second-highest authorities respectively - is critical. It is not always the case that these two
individuals come from the same political party or part of the political spectrum and, when they are of
different political persuasion (as was the case in 1986, 1993 and 1997), the two figures must practice
a process of 'cohabitation'.
In May 2012, Nicolas Sarkozy, the incumbent President and candidate of the conservative UMP, was
beaten in the second round of the Presidential election by the Socialist Party candidate Franois
Hollande, the self-syled 'Mr Normal', who gained 51.63% of the vote. Hollande is the first socialist
President in France for 17 years and has never previously held ministerial office. He soon became so
unpopular in the polls that he acquired the new nickname of Monsieur Flanby - a reference to a
wobbly French pudding.
The next Presidential election will be held in May 2017.
THE EXECUTIVE
The head of the government is the Prime Minister who is nominated by the majority party in the
National Assembly and appointed by the President for an indefinite term.
The Prime Minister recommends Ministers to the President, sets out Ministers' duties and
responsibilities, and manages the daily affairs of government. He issues decrees and is responsible
for national defence.
Following the election of the new President Franois Hollande in May 2012, Jean-Marc Ayrault - who
was previously leader of the Socialist group in parliament - was appointed Prime Minister. However,
following local elections in March 2014 when the Socialists did very badly, a new Prime Minister was

appointed by Hollande: Manuel Valls, who has been likened to the British politician Tony Blair.
Interestingly, he was born in Spain and only acquired French citizenship at the age of 17 - his father
was Spanish and his mother Swiss.
The Council of Ministers - typically consisting of around 15-16 individuals - is headed by the Prime
Minister but chaired by the President. The total size of the ministerial team is typically 30-40. The
members of the Council are called Ministers, while the junior ministers are known as Secretaries of
State - the reverse of the nomenclature in the British political system.
It is customary for the President, in consultation with the Prime Minister, to select elected
representatives from the National Assembly for ministerial posts, but this is not a set rule. For
example, there has been Raymond Barre, Prime Minister (1976-81), who prior to that appointment
was a university economics lecturer, while Thierry Breton, Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry
(2005-07) was a business man.
THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
The lower house in the French political system is the National Assembly. This has 577 seats
representing single-member constituencies. The 2.5 million French people living abroad have the
opportunity to vote in one of 11 constituencies grouping areas of the world together.
Members of the National Assembly are directly elected in a two-stage voting system. A candidate
who receives more than 50% of the vote in the first round is elected. However, if no candidate
receives 50%, there is a second round which is a run-off between all those first round candidates who
secured more than 12.5% of the votes in that first round. This is held one week later. All elections are
held on a Sunday.
Members of the National Assembly serve five-year terms.
The National Assembly tends to specialise in scrutinising day-to-day government business. In cases of
disagreement with the Senate, the position of the National Assembly prevails. Critics have argued
that the Assembly is weak in terms of setting its own agenda and holding the exeutive to account.
The last Assembly elections were held in June 2012 when the Socialist grouping won a comfortable
victory over the Right-wing grouping, taking 331 seats to 229 (17 members are outside the two
groups).
The next Assembly elections will be held in June 2017.
Link: French National Assembly click here
THE SENATE
The upper house in the French political system is the Senate. This currently has a total of 348 seats
(the number depends on population changes): 323 representing mainland France, 13 representing
French overseas territories, and 12 representing French nationals abroad. Many French Senators are
also high-level local officials.
Members of the Senate are indirectly elected by an electoral college of 88,000 made up of city
councillors and local officials which provides a rural and therefore Right-wing bias to the process.
Indeed, since the Fifth Republic was established in 1958, Right-wing parties have always held a

majority in the Senate until the elections of September 2011 when the Left took control for the first
time. Members serve a six-year term - a reduction from the previous nine years - and one-half of
seats (previously one-third) come up for election every three years.
In the last Senate elections in September 2014, the far-Right Front National won representation - two
seats - for the first time and the Left lost its majority. The next Senate elections will be held in
September 2017.
The Senate tends to specialise in constitutional matters and foreign affairs including European
integration (it has a 'listening post' in Brussels, the headquarters of the European Union).
The Senate meets in the Luxembourg Palace.
Link: French Senate click here
POLITICAL PARTIES
France is a multi-party political system which means that often no one party wins a majority of seats
in the Assembly. Indeed the major parties themselves are often very fractional with shifting personal
allegiances.
French politics has traditionally been characterised by two politically opposed groupings but, in
recent years, a third force has emerged so that elections are now effectively a triangular contest.
The earlier bi-polar model consisted of two groups:

one Left-wing centred around the French Socialist Party with minor partners such as Europe
Ecology The Greens (EELV) and the Radical Party of the Left.

the other Right-wing and centred around what was the neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic
(RPR), then its successor the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP), and now - since 2015 - the
renamed The Republicans, with support from the New Centre.

The growing third movement is building on the support of the Right-wing, anti-immigrant Front
National (FN) which first made waves in the European Parliament elections of 1984 when it won
almost 11% of the votes. More recently, it did particularly well in the local elections of March 2014,
actually topped the polls in the European elections of May 2014, and went on to win the first round of
the regional elections in December 2015 (with almost 28% of the vote). The party is led by Marine Le
Pen.
Other significant players include the Left Party, which is increasingly challenging the Socialist Party,
and the Communist Party, which in recent local elections has created joint lists with the Socialist
Party.
For the first time in the history of the Fifth Republic, in June 2012 the Socialist grouping held all three
elected arms of government: the Presidency, the National Assemby and the Senate. But this did not
last long: in the Senate elections of September 2014, the Left lost control of the upper house.
In France, unlike most other democracies, the majority of national politicians are former civil servants
(often high-ranking). Most Presidents, many Cabinet members and a very large number of parliament
members graduated from the same prestigious school, the Ecole Nationale d'Administration.

The French take their politics seriously and voter participation can be very high (it was 79.48% in the
2012 Presidential election). However, voter participation varies significantly across elections.
Abstention was at a 56% high in the 2014 European elections and about 50% in the first round of
both local elections of 2015.
THE JUDICIARY
France uses a civil legal system; that is, law arises primarily from written statutes; judges are not to
make law, but merely to interpret it. The basic principles of the rule of law were laid down in the
Napoleonic Code.
The highest appellate court in France is called the Cour de Cassation and the six chief judges are
appointed by the President. Unlike the supreme courts in other countries (such as the USA), it does
not have the power of judicial review.
The power of judicial review is vested in a separate Constitutional Court which is a unique creation of
the Fifth Republic. The court consists of nine members: one appointment made by each of the
President, the President of the Senate, and the President of the National Assembly every three years
for a nine-year, non-renewable term. This contrasts with the US system where the President makes all
appointments to the Supreme Court but then the appointments are for life.

Five Different
Political
System

Submitted by:
Micah B. Ferrer

Submitted to:
Y