The Prime Minister reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Prime Minister

Alternate meaning: Prime Minister (band)

A prime minister is the chief member of the cabinet in a parliamentary system of government, or alternatively an official in a presidential system or semi-presidential system whose duty is to execute the directives of the President and manage the civil service.

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1940-1945, 1951-1955)]]

In a parliamentary system, such as the Westminster System, generally the Prime Minister is, in practice, the head of the government while the head of state is largely a ceremonial position. In some monarchies the prime minister exercises powers (known as the Royal Prerogative) which are constitutionally vested in the monarch and which can be exercised without the approval of parliament. As well as being Head of Government, a prime minister may have other roles or titles - the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, for example, is also First Lord of the Treasury. Sometimes they may combine the post with another ministerial office - for example during the Second World War Winston Churchill was also Minister of Defence.

Table of contents

1 Prime Ministers in both Republics & Monarchies 2 Method of Entry into Office 3 Prime Ministers in Constitutions 4 Exit from Office 5 Title of Prime Minister 6 Articles on prime ministers 7 Lists of prime ministers 8 External links 9 See also

Prime Ministers in both Republics & Monarchies

, Prime Minister of Norway 1981-1986]]

Prime Ministers can be found in both constitutional monarchies (as is the case in the United Kingdom, Norway and Japan), and in republics, where the head of state is an elected or unelected official with varying degrees of real power. This contrasts with a presidential system, where the President (or equivalent) is both the head of state and the head of the government. See also "First Minister", "Premier" which are distinct from "prime minister."

In some presidential or semi-presidential systems such as France, Russia, South Korea or Taiwan the prime minister is an official generally appointed by the President but approved by the legislature and responsible for carrying out the directives of the President and managing the civil service. In these systems, it is possible for the president and the prime minister to be from different political parties if the legislature is controlled by a party different than that of the president. This is a situation which is known as cohabitation.

Method of Entry into Office

In parliamentary systems a prime minister can enter into office by a number of means.

• by appointment by the head of state without the need for confirmation by parliament; Example: The United Kingdom, where the monarch appoints a prime minister without the need for confirmation from parliament, which gets its first chance to indicate its view on the new government in the vote on the Speech from the Throne, in which the new government outlines its legislative programme. The method of prime ministerial appointment by the British sovereign is known as to Kiss Hands. Article 190 of the 1982 'Portuguese Constitution, for example, states that

The Prime Minister shall be appointed by the President of the Republic after consultation and with the parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic, due regard being had to the [general] election results.

• appointment by the head of state after parliament nominates a candidate; Example: The Republic of Ireland where the President of Ireland appoints the Taoiseach on the nomination of Dáil Éireann.)

• the head of state nominates a candidate for prime minister who is then submitted to parliament for approval before appointment as prime minister; Example: Spain, where the King sends a nomination to parliament for approval. Also Germany where under the Basic Law (constitution) the Bundestag votes on a candidate nominated by the Federal President. In these cases, parliament can choose another candidate who then would be appointed by the head of state.)

• the head of state appoints a prime minister who has a set timescale within which s/he must gain a vote of confidence; (Example: Italy.)

• direct election by parliament (the premiers of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut);

• appointment by a state office holder other than the head of state or his/her representative; Example: Under the modern Instrument of Government 1974, which came into force in 1975, the power of commissioning someone to form a government was moved from the King of Sweden to the Speaker of Parliament, who, once it has been approved, formally makes the appointment.

Though most prime ministers are 'appointed', they are generally if inaccurately described as 'elected'.

Prime Ministers in Constitutions

Prime Minister of Australia in the 1970s]]

The position, power and status of prime ministers differ depending on the age of the constitution in individuals.

Britain's constitution, being uncodified and largely unwritten, makes no mention of a prime minister. Though it had de facto existed for centuries, its first official mention in official state documents did not occur until the first decade of the twentieth century.

Australia's Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act (1900) makes no mention of a prime minister of Australia. The office has a de facto existence at the head of the Executive Council.

Ireland's constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann (1937) provided for the office of taoiseach in detail, listing powers, functions and duties.

Germany's Basic Law (1949) lists the powers, functions and duties of the federal Chancellor.

Exit from Office

Contrary to popular and journalistic myth, most prime ministers in parliamentary systems are not appointed for a specific term of office and in effect may remain in power through a number of elections and parliaments. For example, Margaret Thatcher was only ever appointed prime minister on one occasion, in 1979. She remained continually in power until 1990, though she used the assembly of each House of Commons after a general election to reshuffle her cabinet. Some states, however, do have a term of office of the prime minister linked to the period in office on the parliament. Hence the Irish Taoiseach is formally 'renominated' after every general election. (Some constitutional experts have questioned whether this process is actually in keeping with the provisions of the Irish constitution, which appear to suggest a taoiseach should remain in office, without the requirement of a renomination, unless s/he has clearly lost the general election.)

Prime Minister of India from 1966-1977 and 1980-1984]]

In parliamentary systems, governments are generally required to have the confidence of the lower house of parliament (though a small minority of parliaments, by giving a right to block Supply to upper houses, in effect make the cabinet responsible to both houses, though in reality upper houses, even when they have the power, rarely exercise it). Where they lose a vote of confidence, have a motion of no confidence passed against them, or where they lose Supply, most constitutional systems require either:

• resignation, or
• a request of a parliamentary dissolution.

The latter in effect allows the government to appeal the opposition of parliament to the highest court in the land, the court of public opinion through an election. However in many jurisdictions a head of state may refuse a parliamentary dissolution, requiring the resignation of the prime minister and his or her government. In most modern parliamentary systems, the Prime Minister is the person who decides when to request a parliamentary dissolution. Older constitutions often vest this power in the cabinet. (In Britain, for example, the tradition whereby it is the prime minister who requests a dissolution of parliament dates back to 1918. Prior to then, it was the entire government that made the request. Similarly, though the modern 1937 Irish constitution grants to the Taoiseach the right to make the request, the earlier 1922 Irish Free State Constitution vested the power in the Executive Council (the then name for the Irish cabinet).

Title of Prime Minister

The current Taoiseach of Ireland]]

A number of different terms are used to describe prime ministers. The German prime minister is actually titled "Federal Chancellor" while the Irish Prime Minister is called the Taoiseach. In many cases, though commonly used, "prime minister" is not the official title of the office-holder; the British prime minister is (usually) "First Lord of the Treasury and Minister for the Civil Service", and the Spanish prime minister is the "President of the Government" (Presidente del Gobierno). Other common forms include president (or chairman) of the Council of Ministers, or of the Executive Council (&c.), or "Minister-President".

Articles on prime ministers

• Prime Minister of Australia
• Prime Minister of Canada
• Prime Minister of France
• Prime Minister of Fiji
• Chancellor of Germany
• Prime Minister of India
• Taoiseach of Ireland
• Prime Minister of Israel
• Prime Minister of Japan
• Prime Minister of the Netherlands
• Prime Minister of New Zealand
• Prime Minister of Pakistan
• Prime Minister of Serbia
• Prime Minister of Spain
• Prime Minister of Sweden
• Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Lists of prime ministers

The following table groups the list of past and present prime ministers and details information available in those lists.

Country	List starts	Table shows   parties?	Term given by   years or dates?	Present Incumbent
Afghanistan	1953
years	None
Albania	1914
years	Fatos Nano
Algeria	1962	yes	years	Ahmed Ouyahia
Angola	1975
dates	Fernando da Piedade Dias dos Santos
Antigua and Barbuda	1981
years	Lester Bird
Armenia	1918	yes	dates	Andranik Markaryan
Australia	1901	yes	dates	John Howard
Bahamas	1967
dates	Perry Christie
Bangladesh	1971	yes	dates	Andranik Markaryan
Barbados	1954
years	Owen Arthur
Belgium	1918
dates	Guy Verhofstadt
Belize	1973	yes	years	Said Musa
Bulgaria	1879
dates	Simeon Sakskoburggotski
Burkina Faso	1971
dates	Paramanga Ernest Yonli
Cameroon	1960
dates	Peter Mafany Musonge
Canada	1867	yes	dates	Paul Martin
Cape Verde	1975
dates	José Maria Neves
Central African Republic	1958
dates	Célestin Gaombalet
Chad	1978
dates	Moussa Faki
Cook Islands	1965	yes	dates	Robert Woonton
Croatia	1990
dates	Ivo Sanader
Czech Republic/Czechoslovakia	1969
years	Vladimír Špidla
Denmark	1848
years	Anders Fogh Rasmussen
Djibouti	1977
dates	Dileita Mohamed Dileita
Dominica	1960
dates	Roosevelt Skerrit
Egypt	1878
years	Ahmed Nazif
Equatorial Guinea	1963
dates	Miguel Abia Biteo Borico
Fiji	1966
dates	Laisenia Qarase
Finland	1917	yes	years	Matti Vanhanen
France	1815
years	Jean-Pierre Raffarin
Georgia	1918	yes	dates	Zurab Zhvania
Greece	1833
dates	Kostas Karamanlis
Greenland	1979
years	Hans Enoksen
Grenada	1954
years	Keith Mitchell
Guinea	1972
dates	François Lonseny Fall
Guyana	1953
dates	Sam Hinds
Hungary	1848
dates	Péter Medgyessy
Iceland	1904
years	Davíð Oddsson
India	1947	yes	dates	Manmohan Singh
Iraq	1920
years	Iyad Allawi
Ireland	1937	yes	years	Bertie Ahern
Israel	1948
years	Ariel Sharon
Italy	1861
years	Silvio Berlusconi
Jamaica	1959
years	Percival Patterson
Japan	1885
years	Junichiro Koizumi
Latvia	1990	yes	dates	Indulis Emsis
Lebanon	1926
dates	Rafiq Hariri
Lithuania	1990	yes	dates	Algirdas Mykolas Brazauskas
Luxembourg	1959
years	Jean-Claude Juncker
Malaysia	1957	yes	years	Abdullah Ahmad Badawi
Malta	1921	yes	years	Lawrence Gonzi
Mongolia	1912	yes	dates	Nambaryn Enkhbayar
Myanmar (Burma)	1948	yes	dates	Khin Nyunt
Netherlands	1945	yes	dates	Jan Peter Balkenende
New Zealand	1856	yes	dates	Helen Clark
North Korea	1948	n/a	years	Pak Pong-ju
Norway	1814
years	Kjell Magne Bondevik
Pakistan	1947
dates	Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain
Papua New Guinea	1975
years	Michael Somare
Poland	1917
dates	Marek Belka
Portugal	1980	yes	dates	Pedro Santana Lopes
Romania	1862
years	Adrian Năstase
Russia	1991	yes	dates	Mikhail Fradkov
Saint Kitts and Nevis	1960
dates	Denzil Douglas
Saint Lucia	1960
dates	Kenny Anthony
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	1956
dates	Ralph Gonsalves
São Tomé and Principe	1974	yes	dates	Maria das Neves
Serbia	1805
years	Vojislav Kostunica
Slovakia	1918
dates	MikulᚠDzurinda
Slovenia	1990	yes	years	Anton Rop
South Africa	1910
dates	(Post Abolished)
Spain	1902	yes	years	José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Sri Lanka	1948
dates	Mahinda Rajapakse
Sweden	1876	yes	years	Göran Persson
Thailand	1932
years	Thaksin Shinawatra
Trinidad and Tobago	1956
dates	Patrick Manning
Turkey	1923
years	Recep Tayyip Erdoğan
Tuvalu	1975	n/a	dates	Saufatu Sopoanga
United Arab Emirates	1971
years	Maktoum Bin Rashid al-Maktoum
United Kingdom	1721	yes	dates	Tony Blair
Vietnam	1976	yes	dates	Phan Van Khai
Yemen	1990	yes	years	Abdul Qadir Bajamal

External links

• website of the Prime Minister of Australia
• website of the Prime Minister of Barbados
• website of the Prime Minister of Canada
• website of the Prime Minister of France
• website of the Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic (Greece)
• website of the Prime Minister of Hungary
• website of the Prime Minister of Iceland
• website of the Prime Minister of India
• website of the Taoiseach of Ireland
• website of the Prime Minister of Israel
• website of the Prime Minister of Japan
• website of the Prime Minister of Korea
• website of the Prime Minister of New Zealand
• website of the Prime Minister of Norway
• website of the chairman of Serbia and Montenegro Council
• website of the Prime Minister of Thailand
• website of the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago
• home page of 10 Downing St, residence & office of the Prime Minister of the UK

See also

• President
• Monarch
• Governor-General
• Head of state
• List of national leaders
• Heads of state timeline

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