deputy

A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. In many countries the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a unique title, such as senate, and thus also have unique titles for its members, such as "senators". Members of parliament tend to form parliamentary parties with members of the same political party.

Australia

In Australia, the term Member of Parliament refers to the Australian House of Representatives, and in some jurisdictions it also refers to members of the State Parliament.

See also: List of members of the Australian House of Representatives

• Queensland Members of the Legislative Assembly, the unicameral (single house) Parliament of Queensland were known as Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) until 2001 and are now known as Members of Parliament (MPs).^[1]

Canada

In Canada, the term Member of Parliament refers to both members of the Canadian House of Commons and the Senate of Canada. However, in common parlance, the term is often used in reference to members of the lower house; members in the Senate are referred to as "senators".

In Ontario, the members of the provincial legislature style themselves as "Members of the Provincial Parliament" ("MPPs").^[2]

Czech Republic

In Czech Republic Members of Parliament (Czech: Parlament) are called 'Poslanci' (singular Poslanec).

Denmark

In Denmark, Members of Parliament refers to the elected members of the Danish Parliament, Folketinget. The style used is Medlem af Folketinget, abbreviated MF, e.g. an MP would be styled as "Jens Jensen, MF" or "Jens Jensen, Medlem af Folketinget". Denmark had a bicameral parliament until 1953, and members of the two houses were referred to respectively as Medlem af Folketinget, or MF vs. Medlem af Landstinget, or ML. Members were also referred to as respectively, Folketingsmand N.N., Landstingsmand N.N. or (collectively): Rigsdagsmand N.N. In all cases, these titles were pluralized as -mænd, e.g. Folketingsmænd.

India

In India, the term Member of Parliament refers to the Sansad or the Indian Parliament chambers of the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha. MPs to the Lok Sabha are elected popularly by constituencies in the Indian states and union territories, while MPs to the Rajya Sabha are elected by State legislatures. Central government is formed by the party having the most number of MPs in the Lok Sabha. Each state is allocated a fixed number of elected MPs. The Indian state, Uttar Pradesh, represents the maximum number of MPs in the Lok Sabha.

Ireland

In Ireland, the term Member of Parliament can refer to the members of the pre-1801 Irish House of Commons of the Parliament of Ireland. It can also refer to Irish members elected to the British House of Commons from 1801 to 1922. Members of the modern Irish lower house of parliament, Dáil Éireann (or "the Dáil") are termed Teachtaí Dála (Teachta Dála singular) or TDs. The upper house is called the Seanaid (shan-ad). Its members are called Seanaideorai (shan-ad-ore-ee) or Senators.

See also: Member of Parliament (pre-Union Ireland)

Italy

In the Republican Italian Parliament the current term is Deputato (that is deputy as appointed to act on people's behalf) and so the Lower House takes the name of Camera dei Deputati. Similarly to other countries, the Higher House is called Senato and its members are the Senatori.

Lebanon

The Parliament of Lebanon is the Lebanese national legislature. It is elected to a four-year term by universal adult suffrage in multi-member constituencies, apportioned among Lebanon's diverse Christian and Muslim denominations. Its major functions are to elect the President of the Republic, to approve the government (although appointed by the President, the Prime Minister, along with the Cabinet, must retain the confidence of a majority in the Parliament), and to approve laws and expenditure.

Malaysia

The Malaysian Parliament is modeled after the Parliament of the United Kingdom and consists of two houses, known as the Dewan Rakyat, which is the House of Representatives, and Dewan Negara, the Senate.

The members of the Dewan Rakyat are elected in general elections or by-elections, whereas the members of the Dewan Negara are either appointed by the king, in recognition of outstanding service to their country or chosen by the states. Each state appoints a number of senators proportional to its size.

Currently, the Dewan Negara has 70 seats while the Dewan Rakyat has 219. Of the 219 seats in the Dewan Rakyat, as of 2006, 199 are held by the ruling Barisan Nasional and 20 by opposition parties.

Members of Parliament are styled Yang Berhormat ("Honourable") with the initials Y.B. appended prenominally. A prince who is a Member of Parliament is styled Yang Berhormat Mulia.

See also: Parliament of Malaysia

Netherlands

The parlement of the Netherlands consist of two chambers; together they are know as parlement or "Staten-Generaal", literally Estates-General. The First Chamber is also know as the Senate and its members as "senatoren", senators. The Second Chamber, "Tweede Kamer", is the most important one. The important debates take place here. Also, the Second Chamber can edit proposed laws with amendments and it can propose laws itself. The Senate doesn't have these possibilities. Its function is more a technical reviewing of laws. It can only pass a law or reject it. Both chambers are in The Hague which is the seat of parlement but not the official capital of The Netherlands -that is Amsterdam.

The 150 members of the Second Chamber are elected by general elections every 4 years (unless the government falls). The 75 members of the Senate are elected indirectly. The members of the 12 provincial parlements elect the senators. The value of a vote of a member of a provincial parlement is relative to the population of the province. Provincial parlements are elected by general elections each 4 years.

See also (in Dutch): Staten-Generaal, Eerste Kamer, Tweede Kamer en Provinciale Staten

New Zealand

New Zealand has a single-chambered (unicameral) parliament. In New Zealand, Member of Parliament is the term for a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, although parliament technically consists of both the House and the Queen. The New Zealand House of Representatives normally has 120 MPs, elected every three years. There are 69 electorate (constituency) MPs, 7 of whom are elected by Māori who have chosen to vote in special Māori seats. The remaining 51 MPs are elected from party lists. As of 2007, the speaker of the house is Margaret Wilson.

Before 1951, New Zealand had a two-chambered (bicameral) parliament, and there were two designations — MHR (Member of the House of Representatives, the body which survives today) and MLC (Member of the Legislative Council).

See also: New Zealand Parliament and New Zealand elections

Pakistan

In Pakistan, Member of Parliament refers to a member of Parliament (National Assembly of Pakistan, Qaumi Assembly). The National Assembly is based in Islamabad.

Poland

Further information: Poseł

Singapore

In Singapore, Members of Parliament refers to elected members of the Parliament of Singapore, the appointed Non-Constituency Members of Parliament from the opposition, as well as the Nominated Members of Parliament, who may be appointed from members of the public who have no connection to any political party in Singapore.

See also: Cabinet of Singapore and Members of the Singapore Parliament

Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, Members of Parliament refers to elected and nominated members of the Parliament of Sri Lanka.

Sweden

In Sweden, Members of Parliament refers to the elected members of the Swedish Riksdag.

Thailand

In the Kingdom of Thailand, Members of Parliament refers to the elected members of the National Assembly of Thailand. Following the military coup d'état on September 19, 2006, all its 500 members are suspended from duty until the next election.

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom has members of three different parliaments:

• Members of Parliament (which refers to members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, abbreviated to MP(s) but only in reference to members of the (lower) House of Commons)
• Members of the European Parliament (MEPs)
• Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) (Elected members of the pre-Union Parliament of Scotland were called Commissioners.)

The Welsh Assembly is not empowered to make primary legislation and forms the Welsh Assembly Government, which unusually combines legislative and executive functions. The National Assembly consists of 60 elected members; they use the English title Assembly Member (AM) or the equivalent Welsh Aelod y Cynulliad (AC), the latter being increasingly preferred.

The Northern Ireland Assembly's 108 members are elected from 18 six-member constituencies on the basis of universal adult suffrage. The constituencies used are the same as those used for elections to the Westminster Parliament. Elected members are known as Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA). The Assembly has authority to legislate in a field of competences known as "transferred matters". These matters are not enumerated in the Northern Ireland Act 1998. Rather, they include any competence not explicitly retained by the Parliament at Westminster. Uniquely, Assembly legislation is open to judicial review.

Between 1921 and 1973, Northern Ireland was governed by the Parliament of Northern Ireland, a devolved assembly whose members were known as Members of Parliament.

MPs in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom are elected in general elections and by-elections to represent constituencies by the first-past-the-post system of election, and may remain MPs until Parliament is dissolved, which must occur within 5 years of the last General Election, as stated in the Parliament Act 1911.

Members of the House of Lords are not MPs but Lords of Parliament, and sit either for life in the case of the Lords Temporal, or so long as they continue to occupy their ecclesiastical positions in the case of the Lords Spiritual. Hereditary Peers may no longer pass on their seat and those remaining have been elected by themselves, following the House of Lords Act 1999. Their numbers remain at 92 by top-up voting ("by-election") when a member dies, however Lord Avebury’s House of Lords (Amendment) Bill (HL Bill 51) paves the way for their gradual extinction and this may be enacted before grand constitutional reform occurs. Such major reform is likely to be somewhat prolonged based on the Lords' resistance to suggested proposals in February 2007.^[3]

There are several special members of Parliament, including the Prime Minister, other government ministers in the Commons, the Chief Whip of each party, Privy Counsellors, and the Speaker of the House.

A candidate to become a Member of Parliament must be a British or Irish or Commonwealth citizen, must be over 18, and must not be a public official or officeholder, as set out in the schedule to the Electoral Administration Act 2006[1] (this was a reduction in the lower age limit, as candidates needed to be 21 until the law came into effect in 2006).

Members of Parliament are technically forbidden to resign their seats (though they are not forbidden from refusing to seek re-election). In order to leave the house between elections, they must either die or take advantage of the rule that appointment to a "paid office under the Crown" disqualifies an MP from sitting in the Commons, and two nominally paid offices - the Chiltern Hundreds and the Manor of Northstead - exist to allow members to resign from the House. For more information, see the article Resignation from the British House of Commons.

The basic salary of an MP in the House of Commons was increased to £60,277 on 1 November 2006. Many MPs (ministers, the Speaker, senior opposition leaders etc) receive a supplementary salary for their specific responsibilities. As of the 1 April 2006 increment these range from £25,255 for junior whips to £126,085 for the Prime Minister. [2]

See also: List of British MPs, List of Parliaments of the United Kingdom, MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005, and Number of British MPs

Other countries

MPs are also representatives in other parliamentary democracies that do not follow the Westminster system. Their functions are very much the same, yet the post is usually referred to in a different fashion such as Deputé in France, Diputado in Spain and many Latin American (Hispanic) countries, Deputado in Portugal and Brazil, Deputato in Italy or Mitglied des Bundestages (MdB) in Germany.

Notes

1. ^ It was resolved at a meeting (19/10/2000) of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (Qld branch) that Members of the Legislative Assembly should be known as MP rather than MLA.
2. ^ Journals of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, April 7, 1938. See also the Legislative Assembly Act, R.S.O. 1990, which refers to "members of the Assembly".
3. ^ http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/HLLReformChronology.pdf

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