Changes

This contrasts to presidential systems, where the members of the government (in particular the President) are not members of the legislature.

This contrasts to presidential systems, where the members of the government (in particular the President) are not members of the legislature.

The Prime Minister is not elected for a fixed term, but serves for as long as he has the "confidence" of Parliament -- that is, as long as he enjoys their support.  Usually, the Prime Minister (and the rest of the government) is removed after an election at which his party failed to retain a majority in parliament.  Occasionally, most often during a period of minority government, the Prime Minister is removed upon losing a vote of no confidence, or resigns after losing a major vote on an issue they have championed (as [[Italy|Italian]] Prime Minister [[Romano Prodi]] did in February 2007).  In other cases members of the government party may choose to change their leader in which case the new leader becomes Prime Minister, as happened to [[Margaret Thather]] in [[Britain]] in 1990.

The Prime Minister is not elected for a fixed term, but serves for as long as he has the "confidence" of Parliament -- that is, as long as he enjoys their support.  Usually, the Prime Minister (and the rest of the government) is removed after an election at which his party failed to retain a majority in parliament.  Occasionally, most often during a period of minority government, the Prime Minister is removed upon losing a vote of no confidence, or resigns after losing a major vote on an issue they have championed (as [[Italy|Italian]] Prime Minister [[Romano Prodi]] did in February 2007).  In other cases members of the government party may choose to change their leader in which case the new leader becomes Prime Minister, as happened to [[Margaret Thatcher]] in [[Britain]] in 1990.

First past the post elections are more likely to produce a parliament with two major parties, making minority government unlikely.  Proportional voting systems allow third parties a chance to win some representation if they can win a small amount of the national vote without winning a majority of any districts. They are more likely to result in a minority or coalition government. In order to make it easier to form a majority government, proportional voting systems often favor large parties for example through thresholds or the way the number of seats are calculated from the votes.

First past the post elections are more likely to produce a parliament with two major parties, making minority government unlikely.  Proportional voting systems allow third parties a chance to win some representation if they can win a small amount of the national vote without winning a majority of any districts. They are more likely to result in a minority or coalition government. In order to make it easier to form a majority government, proportional voting systems often favor large parties for example through thresholds or the way the number of seats are calculated from the votes.