Asian Affairs, Vol. 27, No. 1 : 5-23 , January-March, 2005

CDRB publication

THE STATE OF PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY : WORLDWIDE REFLECTIONS K. M. NURUL HUDA Abstract: Establishment of parliamentary democracy in the state mechanism has been an uncompromising demand of people of the free world. It has now been instituted in many countries. The fruits of parliamentary democracy achieved so far were never an easy task. It was made possible at the cost of hard labor and sufferings of very large number of democracy loving people across the world. Again the democracy in politics that we see today in many countries is the result of evolution and revolution of a long period of time. The concept of parliamentary system in state business embedded in the minds of social reformists back in the 12 th century shaved into modern democracy over a period of about 9 hundred years. It has been traced although that the seed of parliamentary system was first implanted in the soil of Germany, yet the British parliament is known to have influenced largely to grow it in other countries including those in Asia. Parliamentary democracy in Japan bears a very longer heritage than that in other Asian countries. Of course the countries in the South Asia region resolve state affairs through their respective parliaments. They however follow the procedure of parliament in accordance to their own constitutions. The exercise of parliamentary democracy in the region thus varies from country to country. This paper therefore attempts to highlight the historical background of parliamentary democracy on the ground of politics with particular reference to the South Asian countries. The Article concludes with remarks that both realization and holding of democracy need sacrifice and dedication of people for securing parliamentary sovereignty over the states.

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kratein, “to rule”) is a political system in which the people of a country rule through any form of government they choose to establish. Parliament is the supreme legislative body in various countries in the world. It is the symbol of exercising democratic right of citizens through their representatives. But this right have not bestowed suddenly upon the mankind from the blue in any twinkling night. More precisely, the people sovereignty in state politics was ‘not built in a day’. It has come through a passage of struggle of tens of thousands of people over hundreds of years. Many people embraced martyrdom for realization of parliamentary democracy. The struggle for democracy has not been put off any where in the world. Whenever the authority in the state power attempts to deviate from the norm of democracy, its people voluntarily and vehemently come out to oppose. The modern parliamentary democracy that denotes people’s participation in every state affair has a long journey far from 12th century. The concept of pulling representatives of certain classes of people for royal discussion was set in motion for the first time in Germany in the beginning of 1100s. The House for such discussion was named Reichstag. Reichstag is the ancient legislature of the German Empire or Holy Roman Empire, from the 12th century to 1806. In the Carolingian Empire, meetings of the nobility and higher clergy were held during the royal progresses, or court journeys, as occasion arose, to make decisions affecting the good of the state. After 1100, definitely, the emperor called the Diet (Parliament) to meet in an imperial or episcopal city within imperial frontiers. The German Empire was thus the pioneer of parliamentary practice in the world. Nevertheless the British Parliament at Westminster is called the mother of parliaments. The reason might be that the British Parliament could uphold its parliamentary practice uninterrupted. It has been the model for legislative assemblies in many countries in the world.

Introduction

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HE WORD PARLIAMENT HAS BEEN DERIVED FROM AN OLD FRENCH

word Parlement and Latin word Parliamentum. The French word Parler means, “to talk”. Again democracy (Greek demos, “the people”; Copyright©CDRB, ISSN 0254-4199

Britain The legend of citizen’s right to say in state affairs without reference to Magna Carta remains incomplete. Magna Carta, widely known as the Articles of Barons is considered as the 6

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milestone of parliamentary democracy in the United Kingdom. It was a result of long struggle between the barons and the kings of Great Britain in the 12th and 13th century on the charter of demands for establishing right to say on certain royal decisions and protection of the subjects against oppression. On the way of realization of royal assent to the charter, the barons chased king John up to the side of Rive Thames, between Windsor and Staines (now in the county of Surrey) and seized him at Runnymede. The barons then compelled king John to seal final version of the charter on June 15, 1215. In 1265 Simon de Montford, the leader of barons summoned representatives of towns for the first time to Parliament. From then onward Magna Carta kept influencing development of parliamentary democracy in England. Modern parliament was developed from the fusion, during the reign (1272-1307) of Edward I keeping view to the clauses of Magna Carta. Early in the 14th century, the practice developed of conducting debates between the lords spirituals and temporal in one Chamber, or “House” and between the knights and burgesses in another. Both the petition of Right (1628) and the Habeas Corpus Act (1679) has direct reference to clause 39 of the charter. The federal and state constitutions in the United States of America have bearing to the relevant clauses of Megan Carta.

raising parallel armies to fight battle with that of the king. The rivalry between the king and the Parliament culminated into the first civil war in England that began in October 1642. With the defeat of king’s Scottish supporters at the Battle of Preston in August 1648, Charles lost the war and became a prisoner of the parliament army. A large number of soldiers lost their lives in the civil war. A Rump Parliament appointed a court to try the king. He was charged with high treason and “other crimes against the realm of England”. The court gave the king the sentence of death. The sentence was carried out on January 30, 1649. Charles I, the only king in the history of the United Kingdom, was beheaded as a consequence of English Revolution (also called Puritan Revolution) (1640-1660). Since then parliamentary agency with Oliver Cromwell as chairman governed England as a republic that ended in 1660 with the restoration of monarchy.

British Parliament and the people of Great Britain since 13th century have occupied an admirable place in the page of history of parliamentary democracy. The relentless work and supreme sacrifice of the British people obviously have contributed achieving people ownership in the state. Very blood shedding time for establishment of parliamentary supremacy in the history of Great Britain was the mid 17th century when the Parliament became a revolutionary body and was the center of resistance to the king during the English civil war (1642-1651). The bloody conflict started when king Charles (1600-1649) dissolved the previous parliament for attempting to curtail his power. The king also failed to gain supports from the subsequent Parliaments. At last he called his fifth Parliament in1640. The king tried to have this Parliament raise an army under his control. Unfortunately he utterly failed to get the motion approved by the Parliament. Instead the Parliament started 7

Through a passage of negotiation, debate and conflict, British government took about 7 hundred years to make the House of Commons democratic in the 19th century. Even though the members of middle class could not vote until the Great Reform Bill of 1832 was passed. Again the workingmen did not have voting right before enactment of the Acts of 1867 and of 1884. Women of age 30 got the vote in 1918. This age was lowered to 21 in 1928. The age of adult franchise has been fixed to begin at age 18 in 1969. The United Kingdom is now a parliamentary monarchy. The head of state is a monarch bearing a hereditary title with limited powers. The head of the government is the prime minister. The parliament consists of the House of Lords, the House of Commons, and the monarch. There are 659 members of parliament in the House of Commons elected by universal adult franchises. House of Lords is composed of 675 members, 557 life peers, and 118 hereditary members. The changes and updating of the parliamentary system is a continuous process to cater the demand of the day. The government of the United Kingdom is a member of the European Union. Elections are being held periodically to send Members in the European Parliament- a greater dimension of parliamentary democracy for the states under the Union. 8

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Japan The name of Japan comes first to have any discussion about parliamentary democracy in Asia. It kept moving in Japan since 1880s after about 100 years of the institution of constitutional politics in the United States. Constitutional politics or parliamentary politics in Japan has largely been influenced by the western constitutions. Contrary to supreme sacrifices of the democracy loving people of many countries on earth, there was no bloodshed or dedication of lives in Japan for establishment of parliament to get the citizens into state politics. Instead the Japanese encouraged and used their scholarly people for collecting the best information of parliamentary politics from the west to suit it in their own country. Today’s parliamentary democracy of Japan is a result of long years research and study by scholars, academics, officials and politicians. The sense of absorbing the best political practice of the democratic countries in the world by the statesmen and members of Royal family made the parliamentary democracy easer and effective in Japan.

state affairs. With these stocks of knowledge and information in 1889, about 115 years ago, parliamentary democracy in Japan started its journey with promulgation of the Meiji Constitution. The Imperial Diet provided for in the Constitution consisted of the House of Peers and the House of Representatives. The first general election for the House of Representative was held on July 1, 1890. Female members could note vote for their choice at that time. The lowest age limit for the male voters was fixed at 25 years. Not the poor but the male members who paid 15 yen or more could be qualified for the vote. At last the first session of the Imperial Diet after the first general election under the first constitution in Japan was convened on November 25, 1890. In the 50th Session of the Diet, the Universal Male Suffrage Law was enacted to grant voting right to men of age 25 years or old, irrespective of the amount of tax an individual paid. Yet the people receiving public or private aid or receiving livelihood support on account of poverty were barred to vote. Again no female members could exercise their voting power.

In the 19th century Japanese traders, along with merchandises used to import books on western political affairs from China and Holland. These books provided good amount of information about the parliamentary system of Europe and the United States. A good number of Japanese scholars wrote books on constitutional reform based on western political practice of the contemporary time. Hiroyuki Kato wrote a book “Rikken Seitai Ryaku” (Survey of Constitutional System) in 1868 on the constitutional government in the light of western politics. In 1860 Shimmi Buzen-no-Kami traveled to the United States to observe functional activities of the Congress. Again in 1861 Yukichi Fukuzawa visited Europe and collected information that influenced the concept of parliamentary politics in Japan. In 1881 the government appointed Hirobumi Ito for researching European constitution. Ito studied Prussian Constitution in particular. He visited to Berlin and Vienna to discuss the constitutional experts. Coming back home he made a cogent proposal for political reform. Simultaneously the government agents, private professionals and experts also prepared proposal aiming at making a constitution for Japan that would allow establishment of representative institutions for public discussion of

The progress of parliamentary democracy in Japan has not been disrupted during the period of the World War II or even at time of occupation by the Allied Powers. A general election was held in April 1942 that elected representatives to handle the wartime administration. Japan, however surrendered to the Allied Powers on August 15, 1945 under Potsdam Declaration. General Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers took over the charge of administration of Japan. He handled the political and administrative affairs of Japan through discussion with the Government agents. General MacArthur discussed the then Prime Minister Kijuro Shidehara in October 1945 and delivered five major reforms (Musium, 1995):

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(i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v)

to to to to to

emancipate women, encourage the organization of labor union, democratize school education, abolish secret police, and democratize the economic structure.

The female suffrage was then granted in political participation. After 57 years of promulgation of Japanese constitution, the female

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members of Japan earned the right to vote in the first general election held in April 1946 under the above directives. Women numbering 70 contested and 39 came out elected. The first post war general election of Japan opened the door of women leadership in politics.

Government. This event came to happen when the then Government of India promulgated the Government of India Act of 1919 under the recommendations of Mantagu-Chemsford Reforms2 . A general election in India, first of its kind was held under this Act in 1920. The state of so-called democracy was peculiar in its character and type for the reasons that the enfranchisement was based on property and education. Again the total number of Indians eligible to vote for representatives was fixed to 5,000,000 and only one-fifth of that number were allowed to vote for Legislative Assembly. Further to add was that only 17,000 elite in whole India was permitted to choose Council of State Members. Yet the effect of this election transferred the Imperial Legislative Council into a bicameral legislative consisting of a Legislative Assembly (Lower House) and a Council of States (Upper House). Relaxation of colonial rule over India came into being after promulgation of the Government of India Act of 1935. This Act provided maximum representative powers with natives than ever. Other important features of this Act were the creation of a federal form of central government incorporating the provinces and princely states, the protection of Muslim minorities, and provision for a bicameral national legislature. The British Raj now began to loosen its grip over India by passing legislations. Subsequently the Indian autonomous legislative bodies started taking over the control of politics and administration in all strata but foreign affairs, revenue, and defense. A nation wide election of 1937 was held under the provisions of the Government of India Act 1935. This time 30,000,000 Indians were allowed to vote for their representatives. Subsequently the Bengal Legislative Assembly was formed in 1937 with 250 members. The parliamentary democracy in India of the contemporary British Raj style continued until India won independence in 1947. After independence, India took nearly 2 and half years to make its constitution that came into force in January 1950. It provides a federal union of states. The bicameral system of parliament consists of the Lok Shabha (House of the people) - lower house, and Rajya Shabha (Council of states) - the upper house. The Lok Shabha consists of 545 members directly elected by universal adult suffrage beginning of age 18. The parliamentary system in India is modeled on the British monarchism. The position of the Indian

The post war political perception required amendment of Meiji Constitution. The occupational officials produced a draft constitution at the first hand. The American and Japanese officials then revised it. The draft was then submitted to the Japan’s Parliament. The legislators contributed about 4 dozens amendment to the draft. The constitution was promulgated in November 1946 and it went into effect from May 19471. It has not been amended since then. Japan becomes a parliamentary democracy under the new constitution with an emperor to act as functional head of state. The constitution guarantees more than 25 specific rights and freedom to Japanese citizens. Japan is a unitary state. Under the constitution of 1947, the Parliament of Japan remained bicameral: the House of Representatives and House of Councilors. The later takes place of the old House of Peers. The cabinet of the Japanese Government is very small in comparison to its political and economic status in the world. The cabinet consists of only 12 ministers in addition to the Prime Minister. India India is a powerful country in the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC). SAARC has been formed with seven countries of the region with objectives of achieving development in different areas that includes parliamentary democracy. The Speakers’ Council, a body under the SAARC umbrella meets periodically to share parliamentary experiences and knowledge for the purpose of enriching respective parliamentary institution. India is a home of the largest parliamentary democracy not only within the SAARC countries but also in the world. This article thus starts with India to discuss the parliamentary democracy in the region. The democracy however stepped into the culture of Indian politics only in 1920 during the colonial era of the British 11

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President as head of state is nominal and ceremonial. The prime minister is the head of Government. He appoints a council of ministers to a term determined in the constitution.

ambition in army are purportedly responsible for frequent military interventions in the civil administration of Pakistan. (Huda,1999).

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Famous leaders have nourished Indian politics since 19 century when All India Congress emerged as a political party to negotiate with British Raj for equitable share of the natives to rule the country. They all had valued the aspiration of people through the essence of democracy. Step by step they had been able to send the natives in the state administration and did their best what the people of India wanted them to do. The selection of native leaders for the state administration was done through a democratic procedure that was permissible under the British colonial rule. Through the passage of time and with the victory of independence, the democracy in India has been positioned into an institution that commands the sphere of governance: executive, judiciary and legislative. This is why the Indian democracy is moving forward uninterrupted and getting deep rooted with its politics and culture. Choice of people remains supreme in determining who to rule the country. Since independence, no change of Government could happen bypassing the constitutional mandate of the nation. This mandate is an election of the universal franchises for choosing the leaders for tenure under provision of constitution. Pakistan Eventual result of the Independence of India is creation of Pakistan in 1947 with two wings: West Pakistan and East Pakistan. Pakistan allegedly fell at the hands of smart army personnel, intelligent civil bureaucrats and weak politicians. As a consequence, an environment of people choice in politics could not work in the country for a longer period. In first 11 years of independence until General Mohammad Ayub Khan (1958-69) declared martial law in 1958, there have been nine governments in Pakistan. Again there were 12 changes of government in Pakistan since 1971 after it lost East Pakistan for Bangladesh. Since 1985, no elected government could complete a full term in power. In its 57 years of independence the country has experienced nearly 30 years rule under military dictators. Instances of political instability, weak civil society, corruption in both politics and bureaucracy and high 13

Political parties in the opposition blocks of Pakistan opposed military rule from the very beginning of capturing state power by General Ayub Khan. They took to the streets, suffered oppression, many embraced imprisonment; while other shed blood and sacrificed lives while protesting against military autocracy and in favor of restoration of parliamentary democracy. They showed similar civil movements against other military rulers in Pakistan. In a few cases the parliamentary democracy marshaled for a temporary period for going back at the hands of military junta. Constitution is regarded as the supreme law of a country. Unfortunately the constitution of Pakistan has repeatedly failed to keep holding its spirit towards establishing democracy. Pakistan made its first constitution in 1956 after nine years of its independence. The martial law administrations have violated this constitution many times. The first of this kind of violation happened in 1958 during the military rule of General Ayub Khan. He abrogated the constitution of 1956. Military junta adopted a new constitution in 1962 that accommodated military way of state administration and a new way of national election. He named this new system “Basic Democracy”. Members of the local government bodies were elected by direct vote of the adult franchises under Basic Democracy. The members would elect a chairman for the respective local government body both in the union council and municipality. The chairmen of these local government institutions would constitute an electoral college. The members of the Electoral College would vote to the president, members of national and provincial assembly. The political parties of Pakistan could not accept Basic Democracy as a tool of parliamentary democracy. They staged movement against it. The movement turned into a large people upsurge in 1969. General Ayub Khan stepped down. Unhappily it did not help restore democracy. Instead another army man, General Yahia Khan took over the state power and declared martial law throughout Pakistan. Unlike other military dictators, General Yahia Khan seemed not capturing the state power through so-called “yes no vote” and 14

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eventually becoming the “all in all” of Pakistan. General Yahia Khan suspended the constitution of 1962, annulled Ayub Khan’s Basic Democracy and arranged general elections of both national and provincial assemblies by the universal adult franchises in 1970 within a year of time he took power. Apparently the politicians expected that General Yahia Khan would hand the state power over to the elected representatives and uphold the spirit of parliamentary democracy. Lamentably, he balked at the result of the election wherein the Awami League won majority seats in the national assembly that qualified it to form the Government. Incidentally the Awami League candidates elected to the National Parliament were all from East Wing of Pakistan. The military establishment refused to transfer power to Awami League. On the failure of all kinds of negotiations for restoring parliamentary democracy, the army of General Yiaha Khan cracked down on the Bengali people of East Pakistan. This action opened the door of the war of liberation in 1971. Eventually East wing got separated from Pakistan and Bangladesh won independence. The war of liberation, the resultant separation of Pakistan and ultimate creation of Bangladesh might not happen had there been no extra constitutional dictate from military junta that kept the session of parliament abeyance for an indefinite period of time. People of both wings of Pakistan voted to their leaders certainly not for a war of liberation that took millions of lives. Instead they did it for handing over the state power to the parliamentary system of government and to let the members of parliament do whatever they would consider best for the nation.

parliament. Legislative power of Pakistan is vested in the bicameral Federal Legislature: National Assembly and Senate. The National Assembly has 217 seats. The Senate has 87 seats. The members of parliament are elected directly through popular vote of universal franchises for a term of five years. The senators are elected indirectly by the provincial and national legislatures. Whatever may be the type and kind of democracy in Pakistan, it is the lone country within SAARC region, which is ruled under the military Government.

Pakistan has changed its constitution again in 1973. The constitution of 1973 of Pakistan is now in force with massive amendments by the successive governments, mostly by the military junta. The chief of staff General Parvez Musharraf led another coup in 1999 that ousted the elected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. General Musharraf brought about massive amendment to the 1973 constitution of Pakistan. He is not an elected President by popular vote. The members of national and provincial legislatures elected the president to a five-year term. The president appoints a prime minister from the party in command with legislatures in the National Assembly. The president can dismiss cabinet and dissolve 15

Bangladesh Transpired as above Bangladesh came into being as an independent country in 1971. The Parliamentarians of the newly independent Bangladesh met on 10 April 1972 for making its constitution (Halim, 1998). The constitution came into effect form 16 December 1972. The constitution provides that there shall be a Parliament for Bangladesh in which subject to the provisions of the constitution, shall be vested the legislative powers of the Republic3 . Bangladesh is a unitary nation4 . The Parliament is unicameral. It has 300 seats for members of parliament. The first general election was held 07 March 1973 under this new constitution. The official name of Bangladesh parliament is Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad. The first Session of Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad was held on 07 April 1973. The parliamentary democracy at the threshold of the newborn Bangladesh deserved appreciation for the reasons that it was based on a modern constitution that incorporated the essence of the best constitutions of the world. Unfortunately the process of parliament could not go far. Within a year of the first general election, the state emergency of 1974 and thereafter the 4 th amendment of the constitution severely affected the parliamentary sovereignty towards the values of democracy. The subsequent Martial Law Administrators that captured state power once in 1975 and then in 1981 had also ratified5 the constitution to justify their authority. Democracy loving people of Bangladesh however did not like autocratic governments under military way of parliamentary rule that was brought into force only to protect their authority in state power. They staged demonstrations in the streets, suffered 16

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persecution, subjected to police charges, received bullet injury, and gave up lives for downing of dictatorship and revival of democracy. The militant people of Bangladesh at last achieved their long cherished democracy through the fall of the Ershad6 (1981-91) Government. The fall followed a popular election in 1992. Since then national election is being held under the provisions of constitution to elect the members of parliament. The party that commands majority seats in the House forms the government. The terms of a government is 5 years. The executive power rests with the prime minister and his cabinet colleagues. The prime minister is the head of the government. The cabinet including the prime minister is accountable, responsible and answerable to the parliament. The members of parliament elect the president to a term of 5 years. Like that in India the president of Bangladesh is the head of state. His function and responsibility is nominal and ceremonial.

fund raising campaign and then expenditure in hundreds of millions of Dollars for the general elections also point the finger at the fairness of election in countries like the United States, Canada, Japan and many more. Political culture and democracy in Bangladesh perhaps could not grow and settle at per requirement of a modern country. Like other values in the state and society the fairness in democracy has to come through political system. It may take long time. Yet it is more likely to perpetuate (Clinton, 2004).

From 1971, the year of independence of Bangladesh, to 2004 the year of writing this article, the life of Bangladesh has just crossed 34 years. Within this lifetime, the actual democracy of this country is counted nearly 12 years that has continued uninterrupted since the general election of 1992. The process of general election and practice of democracy in Bangladesh is however, largely critical on its neutrality, fairness and freeness. Very often the media and political critics blame that muscle and money widely influence the result of election in Bangladesh. The situation is such that good parliamentarians with weak command on muscle and money loose the race to bad parliamentarians with strong command on them. Intrusion of incompetent persons in the parliament, the highest forum of state affairs, could be responsible for indulging Bangladesh into corruption and backwardness. Taking all these negative features in the count, a patient observation on the pace of democracy in a new nation would look for more time for acquiring stronghold on parliamentary supremacy. The public election of very old countries with matured democracy in the world is not free from criticism on corruption and coercion as well. The Florida event in the presidential election of 2000 in the United States, for example occupies media coverage till today and leave suspicious impression on the minds whether the whole game was fair or not. Culture of 17

Bangladesh have not perhaps ignored her limitations in the process of democracy what so ever. Key persons in the Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat were aware that the effective role of parliament could bring about good governance for the development in politics, social sectors and economy. Bangladesh Parliament Secretariat and United Nations Development Program (UNDP) then jointly undertook a study in 1996 and came up with recommendations that it needs development in the institutional and operational areas to help members of parliament contribute better policies and participate in fruitful debate both in the House and in the Committees (Huda, 1999). UNDP then has funded a project titled: “Strengthening Parliamentary Democracy” that aims to nurture the growth of democracy in Bangladesh by strengthening the parliament to discharge its three key functions of legislating, oversight and debate more effectively and in a more relevant and responsive manner. An Institute of Parliamentary Studies has been set up under this project for facilitating the members of parliament with training, tour and research to enhance ultimately the quality of the parliamentary democratic practices prevalent in the country. Again to make respective ministry more responsible and answerable to the parliament on its performance and activities, the Minister has been barred to chair the Parliamentary Committee under the amended Rules of Procedure (Miah, 1999). Instead he is an ex-officio member of such committee. A member of parliament as appointed by the Parliament chairs the Committee7. With a view to keep the election process free from partisan influence, a new concept of Non-Party Care-Taker Government has been introduced through amendment of the constitution8. Responsibility of the Non-Party Care-Taker Government is to conduct the general election within 90 days time from the day of its resumption of power. 18

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Bangladesh, beyond its boundary, keeps keen interest sharing knowledge and experiences of other parliaments in the region as well as on the globe. Bangladesh hosted 3rd Conference of the SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians in1999. She has also participated similar conferences in other SAARC countries. Bangladesh pioneered to form an Association of Asian Parliaments for Peace (AAPP) in 1998. Bangladesh hosted a four-day conference on AAPP in September 1999. It also hosted the First Executive Council Meeting of AAPP in December 1999. This meeting has adapted the Charter of AAPP. The following meeting was held in Cambodia in 2000. Bangladesh tried to inculcate any kind of uniqueness in the process of parliamentary practices among the Asian countries with their diverse political culture. It has again hosted the conference of 49th Commonwealth Parliamentary Union in 2003 that opened wider avenue to gather larger amount of information on the practice of parliamentary democracy in many member countries of the world. Bangladesh could be benefited from the information and knowledge of these conferences and meetings to fill the gaps and deficiency of her own parliamentary practice and take the opportunity to modernize her parliamentary democracy.

new constitution in 1990 that allows multiparty political activities in the country. Yet the king’s statue remains as chief of state. Nepal has universal suffrage that begins from the age 18. The prime minister is the head of government. The king appoints the prime minister from the party in command in the parliament. Nepal’s parliament is bicameral: a House of Representative and National Council. The House of Representatives has 205 members directly elected by a popular vote. The National Council has 60 members. The Government of Nepal is facing delicate insurgency problems from a couple of years ago. Even so it is upholding the values of parliamentary democracy in meeting the challenges.

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, among the SAARC countries, holds a reputable position in the exercise of political culture. The country is suffering from prolong insurgency problems from early part of 1970s. In spite of intense critical situation, Sri Lanka has not compromised with the democratic values in ruling the country. The country became independent in 1948. It adopted her first constitution in 1972, which has been replaced by the constitution of 1978. The chief of state and the head of the government is the president. The president is elected directly for a term of six years. The parliament is unicameral. 225 members of parliament are elected directly by a system of proportional representation. Nepal Nepal’s government is a constitutional monarchy. Before 1990s, the politics of Nepal was largely dominated by the rule of the king when political parties were banned. In the later part of 1980s Nepalese staged major protest to establish parliamentary democracy. In response to the people movement, Nepal adopted a 19

Bhutan Bhutan is a monarchy. It does not have constitution and political party. The king serves as the head of state under a reform in 1998. A Council of Ministers exercises the executive power of Bhutan. A Chairman heads the Council who serves as head of government. Ministers, whose term in office is five years, elect the chairman for a one-year term. The National Assembly has got about 150 members. Two-thirds of the members are representatives of the people and are elected every three years. Other are made up of monastic representatives. The Buddhist hierarchy and government officials appoint them. Maldives Maldives adopted its first constitution in 1968. It was replaced by a new constitution in 1998. Its Majlis or Citizens’ Council is a unicameral legislative body. It consists of 40 members directly elected from 20 administrative atolls. 2 members are male. The president appoints 8 representatives for the Majlis. The election of the president is held in a different way. The presidential candidates submit nominations to the Majlis, which elects a single candidate for the race. A nationwide referendum is then held in which all adults may vote in favor or against the candidate. The candidate should have at least 51 per cent vote in his favor for becoming the president for a term of five years. The president holds the executive power of Maldives. Conclusion Modern parliament is a multi-functional institution, performing a wide variety of roles. Besides its traditional 20

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law making functions, parliament exercises many representational, grievances ventilation and redress, educational, leadership recruitment and orientations, legitimatization, overseeing and surveillance over administration and control over the executive roles. Parliamentary democracy is not a one-time settlement issue. It is rather a continuous struggle to get shaped with the requirement of modern age. Very large number of people in many countries dedicated their lives through movements for realization and holding of parliamentary democracy. Many of them came out successful while the rest are still fighting on the streets for the people right in the state affairs. People movements in Philippines, Indonesia, Soviet Union, Poland, East European countries, Iran, Nepal, and Bangladesh etc for parliamentary democracy may be listed among the successful countries. Again Myanmar, China (Tiananmen Square Protest9 ), and countries in the Middle East are in the unsuccessful list. The process and practice of parliamentary democracy however are not uniform or unique in all democratic countries. Different countries follow democratic practice on the basis of rules of their respective constitution. People of democratic countries still take to the streets for more transparency, freedom and establishment of better right in the matter of state affairs. The mass protests in the streets of Ukraine10 in the recent time on the issue of a presidential election is an example in support of people’s response against any mischievous activity in the public offices. Democratically conscious population of a country would reject any undemocratic move and raise their voice against it. This is how the people supremacy would dominate state power.

Notes 1.

See the National Diet: Japan (1999), Published by the Secretariat, House of Representatives, Tokyo, Japan.

2.

Edward Mantagu was the Secretary of state for India. In 1917 he announced a policy of the “gradual development of self-governing institutions”. Mantagu-Chelmsford Reform Commission was the result of this announcement.

3.

See Article 65 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

4.

See Article 1 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

5.

See serial 18 of the Fourth Schedule of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

6.

General Hossain Mohammad Ershad overthrew the democratically elected government by a coup in 1981 and declared Martial Law in Bangladesh. He ruled the country as President until the fall of his government through a mass movement in 1991.

7.

See Rule 247 of the Rules of Procedure of Parliament of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

8.

See Article 58 (B) of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh.

9.

Chinese student staged a huge pro democracy protest in Beijing, China in 1989. The government however crushed the protesters killing hundreds of them and thus quelled the movement.

10. A presidential election was held in Ukraine on November 21, 2004. Tens of thousands people took to the streets in protest of wide spread irregularities in the election and refused the government result that allegedly favored of Victor Yanukovich to win the race. The demonstrators demand reelection under neutral and impartial supervision.

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References Clinton, Bill. 2004. My Life. London: Hutchinson. Huda, K. M. Nurul. 1999. Bangladesh Jatiya Sangsad: Making it an effective parliament, The Independent (A National Daily in Bangladesh), Editorial, September 1. Halim, Md. Abdul. 1998. Constitution, Constitutional Law and Politics: Bangladesh Perspective, Published by Md. Yousuf Ali Khan, Dhaka. Huda, K. M. Nurul. 1999. Pak Democracy in Peril: predicament of military rule: Where is the end, The Independent, Editorial October 22. Miah, Khondoker Abdul Haque. 1999. Jatiya Sangsad: Parliament of Bangladesh: Published by Parliament Secretariat Bangladesh. Museum, The Parliamentary. 1995. History of Constitutionalism in Japan, Compiled and Published by The Parliamentary Museum, House of Representatives.

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