Since the world came into being, there are many ways by which community was bring ruled, who would believe that a society beginning with the family head would be grown up to a number where a ruler would be needed, borders would be established and places known for their empire would be called as a nation. what we see over the past years is monarchy turning into Anarchy, then is the armed rule of dictatorship, evolving more we are now called democratic country built on either presidential or parliamentary form of government. it is said that without rules we are animals, for humans too socialized have named themselves social Animals. And it is these social animals that are governed by one country and several regulations. In this modern era majority of the countries have adopted either the parliamentary system or the presidential although rare places are treasuring their customs and tradition honoring their historic rulers/kings. Hence on the verge of 2022, I might say that we do need to be judgemental of the difficulties we face and the ease we felt while living in a country running on these systems. here we will be critically assessing both the form of government to understand what pillars our country is standing upon:
Presidential system:
In the presidential form of government, the Head of the government and the chief executive is the President. In this system executive is not in any way answerable to the legislature, rather it is independent of the legislature concerning the policy, rules, and decisions. The most practical example of this system is the United States of America where the President is the executive and congress is the legislature. The President is elected for the term of 4 years and cannot be easily removed except by impeachment. An American President can dissolve the Congress independently but none is the case otherwise. All ministers are subordinate to the president and could be removed by the president at any time as he pleases, they depend upon the will of the president. This system also entirely supports the theory of separation of power.
Parliament form of Government:
In a Parliamentary form of government, the executive is responsible to the legislature that is to the member of the Houses/House depending on the unicameral or bicameral legislature. This is also called a cabinet form of government. The main example of the parliamentary form of government includes; Great Britain, Canada, Australia, etc. There are two kinds of executive in the parliamentary form of government, one is nominal called President and the other is real which is Prime Minister. The Nominal executive has limited power restrained by a dependent account of the Head of government. The ministers of the Prime minister’s cabinet are chosen from the members of the legislature. In the parliamentary form, the Prime minister is the head and leader of the House. Pakistan is one of the many states which have embraced the parliamentary form of Government.
Pakistan’s Parliamentary System:
In Pakistan, the Head of the state is the President who is also the constitutional monarch of the Parliament. The President is elected indirectly by the Federal Parliament and Provincial Assemblies both of which form an electoral college. He/She (President) is also part of the legislative body because, without his/her assent, no law can be passed.
The term of the National Assembly is four years and the senate is 6 years.
What is the sovereignty of the parliament in the Parliamentary System?
The expression Parliament is sovereign means that it can pass, amend, or repeal the law to any extent. The power of the Parliament in countries adhering to Parliamentary sovereignty is so transcended and absolute that it cannot be confined. The Court will implement any law made by Parliament until its annulled or modified. It is the fundamental principle that Parliament can do anything to declare a woman, a man, and a man as a woman. According to the Blackstone,
“what the parliament doth no authority upon earth can undo.”
Difference between the Parliamentary form and the Presidential form
(a) Parliament form of government
1. Head of the state is a nominal head.
2. The real executive power lies with the Council of Ministers headed by the Prime Minister and they are collectively responsible for the legislature.
3. The Council of Ministers is derived from the legislature.
5. Dual heads i.e President and PM.
6. In a parliamentary form of government the legislative and executive organs are closely related, and the members of the legislature form the real executive. The responsibility of the executive to the legislature is the Hallmark of the parliamentary form of government.
(b) Presidential form of government:
1. Head of the state is a real head.
2. The Council of Ministers is not collectively responsible for the legislature.
3. The Council of Ministers is not derived from the legislature.
4. Single head i.e President.
5. The presidential form of government is based upon the theory of ‘separation of powers and ‘checks and balances the legislature and the executive function ‘separately’ although in coordination and the member of one cannot be a member of another. They are not responsible for each other and usually, the head of the state is also the head of the government.
6. In the Presidential form President is generally directly elected by the people and there is a complete separation of powers between the executive and legislature. Eg, the USA.
Conclusion
Society is run by a system that has been governed by different entities and modes following the political and social structure of the country. There are so many kinds of systems of government in the world whose main focus is to protect and provide the proper justice and way of life and security of life. There are so many kinds of the system of government but the two most common in the world that is, Parliamentary form and the presidential form of government. Both have their own merits and demerit. In the Democratic form of government, both play a major role, although We have observed that the presidential form earns less favor from the people for President may repeat dictatorship since the powers are limitless with no checks and balances. On the other hand, in the parliamentary system, parliament is considered supreme but there is always a Rule of law – “Nobody is above the law”. In this system, Prime minister is the head of the government and the President is the Head of the state. Here One of the theoretical objections recognized is that the absolute separation of power is neither possible nor desirable. The parliament Particularly in times of emergency/ war situation faces hostile criticism considering no one to solely decide while the Presidential system embarks upon this significant.
Khalid Miraj Khosa
The Lex Write
