Difference Between Parliamentary and Presidential Form of Government

Every country in the world has its own constitution, according to which policies are framed, government bodies and institutions function and decisions are made. In finer terms, it is the constitution, that covers all the aspects of the political system adopted by the country. There are two forms of government, Parliamentary and Presidential. In Parliamentary System, the political party winning the majority seats in the parliament makes the government and elects a person from among themselves as the Prime Minister who is the head of the Government.

On the other hand, in the presidential form of government, the President is the chief executive, who is directly elected by the people or by the members of the electoral college. The difference between the Parliamentary and Presidential form of government is discussed in the article in detail.

Content: Parliamentary System Vs Presidential System

1. Comparison Chart
2. Definition
3. Key Differences
4. Video
5. Conclusion

Comparison Chart

Basis for Comparison	Parliamentary form of Government	Presidential form of Gorvernment
Meaning	In Parliamentay system the legislative and executive body of government are closely related, while the judiciary is independent of the other two bodies of government.	In Presidential system, the legislative, executive and judiciary body of the government are independent of each other.
Executive	Dual executive	Single executive
Accountability	The executive is accountable to the legislature.	The executive is not accountable to the legislature.
Powers	Concentrated	Divided
Ministers	Only the members of Parliament can be appointed as minster.	Persons outside the legislature are appointed as ministers.
Dissolution of lower house	Prime Minister can dissolve the lower house before the expiry of its term.	President cannot dissolve lower house.
Tenure of Executive	Not fixed	Fixed

Definition of Parliamentary form of Government

Parliamentary form of government represents a system of democratic governance of a country, wherein the executive branch is derived from the legislative body, i.e. the Parliament. Here, the executive is divided into two parts, the Head of the State, i.e. President, who is only the nominal executive and the Head of the Government, i.e. Prime Minister, who is the real executive.

As per this system, the political party getting the maximum number of seats during federal elections, in the Parliament, forms the government. The party elects a member, as a leader, who is appointed as the Prime Minister by the President. After the appointment of the Prime Minister, the Cabinet is formed by him, whose members should be out of the Parliament. The executive body, i.e. the Cabinet is accountable to the legislative body, i.e. Parliament

This system is prevalent in the countries like India, Japan and Canada.

Definition of Presidential form of Government

When a country follows the Presidential form of Government, it denotes that there is only one person as the head of the state and government, i.e. the President. The election of the President is made directly by the citizens of the country or sometimes by the members of the electoral college for a fixed period.

The President elects some ministers as the Secretary and forms a small Cabinet, who assist in governing the country. Neither the President nor the Secretaries are accountable to the Congress (Parliament) for their acts. Indeed, they do not attend the sessions as well.

This form of government can be found in the countries like United States of America, Russia, Brazil and Srilanka.

Video: Parliamentary Vs Presidential System

Conclusion

The cabinet members possess double membership, i.e. of legislative and executive organ of government. Contrary to this, in the presidential form of government, the members of the cabinet possesses the membership of executive organ only.

When it comes to dominance, in the Parliamentary System, the President is only the titorial head, while the real powers lie in the hands of the Prime Minister. On the contrary, the President has the supreme power in the Presidential System.