iPedia Free Information Center

Information about Official Opposition

For the indie Chicago band see The Opposition (Chicago)


Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. Note that 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 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. In this context, the opposition forms a recognized, even semi-official "government-in-waiting". Its "opposing" can degenerate into a charade pending the eventual exchange of roles and occupation, or reoccupation, of the Treasury benches.

The more proportional a representative 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-organized democracies, dominated long-term by a single faction, reduce their parliamentary opposition to tokenism. Singapore exemplifies a case of a numerically weak opposition; South Africa under the apartheid regime maintained a long-term imbalance in the parliament. In some cases tame "opposition" parties are created by the governing groups in order to create an impression of democratic debate.

By their very presence in the debating chamber, parliamentary oppositions recognize the legitimacy of the system of politics, and thus may share many of the views of the government. The opposition in such cases can justly claim the title of His/Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition.

The title of "Official Opposition" usually goes to the largest of the parties sitting in opposition with its leader being given the title "Leader of the Opposition".

See also

The Opposition is an American band from Barrington%2C Illinois (a northwest suburb of Chicago). The band was conceived in 2004 by four friends with a love for music. Together Colin Byerly (vocals), Jeff Kranz (guitar), Ryan Moody (bass guitar) and Kevin Nolan (drums)compose The
..... Click the link for more information.
opposition comprises one or more political parties or other organized groups that are opposed to the government, party or group in political control of an area, county, or state.

See also

  • Her Majesty's loyal opposition
  • Opposition (parliamentary)

..... Click the link for more information.
Westminster system is a democratic, parliamentary system of government modelled after that of the United Kingdom system, as used in the Palace of Westminster, the location of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The system is a series of procedures for operating a legislature.
..... Click the link for more information.
red and orange—the former being constitutional monarchies where authority is vested in a parliament, and the latter being parliamentary republics whose parliaments are effectively supreme over a separate head of state.
..... Click the link for more information.
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies.
..... Click the link for more information.
Duverger's law is a principle which asserts that a plurality rule election system tends to a stable two-party system.

The discovery of this tendency is attributed to Maurice Duverger, a French sociologist who observed the effect and recorded it in several papers published in
..... Click the link for more information.
political party is a political organization that seeks to attain political power within a government, usually by participating in electoral campaigns. Parties often espouse a certain ideology and vision, but may also represent a coalition among disparate interests.
..... Click the link for more information.
This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please help Wikipedia by adding references. See the for details.
This article has been tagged since September 2007.

..... Click the link for more information.

..... Click the link for more information.

..... Click the link for more information.
Loyal opposition is the concept that one can be opposed to the actions of the government or ruling party of the day without being opposed to the constitution of the political system.
..... Click the link for more information.
Canada

This article is part of the series:
Politics and government of
Canada


Federal
Executive (The Crown)
Sovereign (Queen Elizabeth II)
Governor General (Michalle Jean)
Queen's Privy Council for Canada
..... Click the link for more information.
Official Opposition is a term used to designate the political party which has secured the largest number of seats in the Lower House of parliament (Lok Sabha) but is not a part of the ruling party or coalition.
..... Click the link for more information.
Republic of Ireland

This article is part of the series:
Politics of Ireland

  • Constitution
  • Referendum
  • Oireachtas

..... Click the link for more information.
New Zealand

This article is part of the series:
Politics of New Zealand


  • Constitution
  • Executive
  • Sovereign
  • Queen Elizabeth II

..... Click the link for more information.
Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition, or the Official Opposition in the United Kingdom is led by the The Leader of the Opposition and usually comprises the largest opposition party in the House of Commons.
..... Click the link for more information.
Australia

This article is part of the series:
Politics of Australia

Federal Government
Executive
  • Queen (Queen Elizabeth II)
  • Governor-General (Michael Jeffery)
  • Prime Minister (John Howard)
  • Cabinet

..... Click the link for more information.
Malaysia

This article is part of the series:
Politics of Malaysia

  • Constitution
  • Social contract
  • Yang di-Pertuan Agong
  • Mizan Zainal Abidin
  • Cabinet

..... Click the link for more information.
Opposition Party represented a brief but significant transitional period in American politics from approximately 1854 to 1858. For the preceding 80 years, one of the major political issues had been the battle between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States,
..... Click the link for more information.
The Shadow Cabinet (also called the Shadow Front Bench) is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition (or the leader of other smaller opposition parties) form an
..... Click the link for more information.


This article is copied from an article on Wikipedia.org - the free encyclopedia created and edited by online user community. The text was not checked or edited by anyone on our staff. Although the vast majority of the wikipedia encyclopedia articles provide accurate and timely information please do not assume the accuracy of any particular article. This article is distributed under the terms of GNU Free Documentation License.
Herod_Archelaus


page counter