A parliamentary republic is a republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the executive branch (the government) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). There are a number of variations of parliamentary republics. Most have a clear differentiation between the head of government and the head of state, with the head of government holding real power, much like constitutional monarchies (however in some countries the head of state, regardless of whether the country's system is a parliamentary republic or a constitutional monarchy, has 'reserve powers' given to use at their discretion in order to act as a non-partisan 'referee' of the political process and ensure the nation's constitution is upheld).^[1][2] Some have combined the roles of head of state and head of government, much like presidential systems, but with a dependency upon parliamentary power.

World's states colored by form of government¹

Full presidential republics2      Semi-presidential republics2      Republics with an executive president elected by or nominated by the legislature that may or may not be subject to parliamentary confidence      Parliamentary republics2      Parliamentary constitutional monarchies where royalty does not hold significant power      Parliamentary constitutional monarchies which have a separate head of government but where royalty holds significant executive and/or legislative power      Absolute monarchies      One-party states      Countries where constitutional provisions for government have been suspended (e.g. military juntas)      Countries which do not fit any of the above systems (e.g. provisional governments/unclear political situations)

¹ This map was compiled according to the Wikipedia list of countries by system of government. See there for sources.
² Several states constitutionally deemed to be multiparty republics are broadly described by outsiders as authoritarian states. This map presents only the de jure form of government, and not the de facto degree of democracy.

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For the first case mentioned above, the form of executive-branch arrangement is distinct from most other governments and semi-presidential republics that separate the head of state (usually designated as the "president") from the head of government (usually designated as "prime minister", "premier" or "chancellor") and subject the latter to the confidence of parliament and a lenient tenure in office while the head of state lacks dependency and investing either office with the majority of executive power.^{[clarification needed]}

Powers

In contrast to republics operating under either the presidential system or the semi-presidential system, the head of state usually does not have executive powers as an executive president would (some may have 'reserve powers' or a bit more influence beyond that), because many of those powers have been granted to a head of government (usually called a prime minister).^{[1][2][clarification needed]}

However, in a parliamentary republic with a head of state whose tenure is dependent on parliament, the head of government and head of state can form one office (as in Botswana, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, and South Africa), but the president is still selected in much the same way as the prime minister is in most Westminster systems. This usually means that they are the leader of the largest party or coalition of parties in parliament.

In some cases, the president can legally have executive powers granted to them to undertake the day-to-day running of government (as in Austria and Iceland) but by convention they either do not use these powers or they use them only to give effect to the advice of the parliament or head of government. Some parliamentary republics could therefore be seen as following the semi-presidential system but operating under a parliamentary system.

Historical development

Typically, parliamentary republics are states that were previously constitutional monarchies with a parliamentary system, with the position of head of state given to a monarch.^[3]

Following the defeat of Napoleon III in the Franco-Prussian War, France once again became a republic – the French Third Republic – in 1870. The President of the Third Republic had significantly less executive powers than those of the previous two republics had. The Third Republic lasted until the invasion of France by Nazi Germany in 1940. Following the end of the war, the French Fourth Republic was constituted along similar lines in 1946. The Fourth Republic saw an era of great economic growth in France and the rebuilding of the nation's social institutions and industry after the war, and played an important part in the development of the process of European integration, which changed the continent permanently. Some attempts were made to strengthen the executive branch of government to prevent the unstable situation that had existed before the war, but the instability remained and the Fourth Republic saw frequent changes in government – there were 20 governments in ten years. Additionally, the government proved unable to make effective decisions regarding decolonization. As a result, the Fourth Republic collapsed and what some critics considered to be a de facto coup d'état, subsequently legitimized by a referendum on 5 October 1958, led to the establishment of the French Fifth Republic in 1959.

Chile became the first parliamentary republic in South America following a civil war in 1891. However, following a coup in 1925 this system was replaced by a presidential one.^{[original research?]}

Commonwealth of Nations

Since the London Declaration of 29 April 1949 (just weeks after Ireland declared itself a republic, and excluded itself from the Commonwealth) republics have been admitted as members of the Commonwealth of Nations.

In the case of many republics in the Commonwealth of Nations, it was common for the Sovereign, formerly represented by a Governor-General, to be replaced by a non-executive head of state. This was the case in South Africa (which ceased to be a member of the Commonwealth immediately upon becoming a republic, and later switched to having an executive presidency), Malta, Trinidad and Tobago, India, Vanuatu, and most recently Barbados. In many of these examples, the last Governor-General became the first president. Such was the case with Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Other states became parliamentary republics upon gaining independence.

List of modern parliamentary republics and related systems

Full parliamentary republics
Country	Head of state	Head of state elected by	Cameral structure	Parliamentary republic adopted	Previous government form	Notes
Albania	Ilir Meta	Parliament, by three-fifths majority	Unicameral	1991	One-party state
Armenia	Vahagn Khachaturyan	Parliament, by absolute majority	Unicameral	2018[note 1]	Semi-presidential republic
Austria	Alexander Van der Bellen	Direct election, by two-round system	Bicameral	1945	One-party state (as part of Nazi Germany, see Anschluss)
Bangladesh	Abdul Hamid	Parliament	Unicameral	1991[note 2]	Presidential republic
Barbados	Sandra Mason	Parliament, by two-thirds majority if there is no joint nomination	Bicameral	2021	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm)
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Christian Schmidt Milorad Dodik Šefik Džaferović Željko Komšić	Direct election of collective head of state, by first-past-the-post vote	Bicameral	1991	One-party state (part of Yugoslavia)
Bulgaria	Rumen Radev	Direct election, by two-round system	Unicameral	1991	One-party state
China, Republic of	Tsai Ing-wen	Direct election, by first-past-the-post Nominally by the National Assembly[note 3]	Unicameral Nominally Tricameral[note 4]	1946 Only nominally a parliamentary republic since 1996	One-party military dictatorship (Mainland China) Constitutional monarchy (Taiwan as part of the Japanese Empire)	Nominally; the Constitution has been partially superseded by additional articles that provide for a semi-presidential republic with direct presidential elections and a unicameral legislature. These additional articles have a sunset clause that will terminate them in the event of a hypothetical resumption of ROC rule in Mainland China.
Croatia	Zoran Milanović	Direct election, by two-round system	Unicameral	2000	Semi-presidential republic
Czech Republic	Miloš Zeman	Direct election, by two-round system (since 2013; previously parliament, by majority)	Bicameral	1993	Parliamentary republic (part of Czechoslovakia)
Dominica	Charles Savarin	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral	1978	Associated state of the United Kingdom
Estonia	Alar Karis	Parliament, by two-thirds majority	Unicameral	1991[note 5]	Presidential republic, thereafter occupied by a one-party state
Ethiopia	Sahle-Work Zewde	Parliament, by two-thirds majority	Bicameral	1991	One-party state
Fiji	Wiliame Katonivere	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral	2014	Military dictatorship
Finland	Sauli Niinistö	Direct election, by two-round system	Unicameral	2000[note 6]	Semi-presidential republic
Georgia	Salome Zourabichvili	Electoral college (parliament and regional delegates), by absolute majority	Unicameral	2018[note 7]	Semi-presidential republic
Germany	Frank-Walter Steinmeier	Federal Assembly (parliament and state delegates), by absolute majority	Bicameral	1949[note 8]	One-party state
Greece	Katerina Sakellaropoulou	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral	1975	Military dictatorship; constitutional monarchy
Hungary	János Áder	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral	1990	One-party state (Hungarian People's Republic)
Iceland	Guðni Th. Jóhannesson	Direct election, by first-past-the-post vote	Unicameral	1944	Constitutional monarchy (in a personal union with Denmark)
India	Ram Nath Kovind	Parliament and state legislature, by instant-runoff vote	Bicameral	1950	Constitutional monarchy (British Dominion)
Iraq	Barham Salih	Parliament, by two-thirds majority	Unicameral[note 9]	2005	One-party state
Ireland	Michael D. Higgins	Direct election, by instant-runoff vote	Bicameral	1949[note 10]	To 1936: Constitutional monarchy (British Dominion) 1936–1949: ambiguous
Israel	Isaac Herzog	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral	2001	Semi-parliamentary republic
Italy	Sergio Mattarella	Parliament and region delegates, by absolute majority	Bicameral	1946	Constitutional monarchy	Prime Minister is dependent on the confidence of both of the houses of Parliament.
Kosovo	Vjosa Osmani	Parliament, by two-thirds majority; by a simple majority, at the third ballot, if no candidate achieves the aforementioned majority in the first two ballots	Unicameral	2008	UN-administered Kosovo (formally part of Serbia)
Latvia	Egils Levits	Parliament	Unicameral	1991[note 11]	Presidential republic, thereafter occupied by a one-party state
Lebanon	Michel Aoun	Parliament	Unicameral	1941	Protectorate (French mandate of Lebanon)
Malta	George Vella	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral	1974	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm[4])[5]
Mauritius	Prithvirajsing Roopun	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral	1992	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm[6][7])[5]
Moldova	Maia Sandu	Direct election, by two-round system (since 2016; previously by parliament, by three-fifths majority)	Unicameral	2001	Semi-presidential republic
Montenegro	Milo Đukanović	Direct election, by two-round system	Unicameral	1992	One-party state (Part of Yugoslavia, and after Serbia and Montenegro)
Nepal	Bidhya Devi Bhandari	Parliament and state legislators	Bicameral[8]	2008[note 12]	Constitutional monarchy
North Macedonia	Stevo Pendarovski	Direct election, by two-round system	Unicameral	1991	One-party state (part of Yugoslavia)
Pakistan	Arif Alvi	Parliament and state legislators, by instant-runoff vote	Bicameral	2010[9][10]	Assembly-independent republic
Poland	Andrzej Duda	Direct election, by majority	Bicameral	1989	One-party state (Polish People's Republic)	Poland has also been identified as a de facto semi-presidential republic as the President does exercise some form of governance and appoints the Prime Minister as the head of government. The decision is then subject to a parliamentary vote of confidence.[11][12][13][14]
Samoa	Tuimalealiifano Va'aletoa Sualauvi II	Parliament	Unicameral	1960	Trust Territory of New Zealand
Serbia	Aleksandar Vučić	Direct election, by two-round system	Unicameral	1991	One-party state (part of Yugoslavia, and after Serbia and Montenegro)
Singapore	Halimah Yacob	Direct election (since 1993)	Unicameral	1965	State of Malaysia
Slovakia	Zuzana Čaputová	Direct election, by two-round system (since 1999; previously by parliament)	Unicameral	1993	Parliamentary Republic (part of Czechoslovakia)
Slovenia	Borut Pahor	Direct election, by two-round system	Bicameral	1991	One-party state (part of Yugoslavia)
Somalia	Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed	Parliament	Bicameral	2012[note 13]	One-party state
Trinidad and Tobago	Paula-Mae Weekes	Parliament	Bicameral	1976	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm[15])[5]
Vanuatu	Tallis Obed Moses	Parliament and regional council presidents, by majority	Unicameral	1980	British–French condominium (New Hebrides)
Parliamentary republics with an executive presidency
Country	Head of state	Head of state elected by	Cameral structure	Parliamentary republic with an executive presidency adopted	Previous government form	Notes
Botswana	Mokgweetsi Masisi	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral	1966	British protectorate (Bechuanaland Protectorate)
Kiribati	Taneti Maamau	Direct election, by first-past-the-post vote	Unicameral	1979	Protectorate
Marshall Islands	David Kabua	Parliament	Bicameral	1979	UN Trust Territory (part of Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands)
Nauru	Lionel Aingimea	Parliament	Unicameral	1968	UN Trusteeship between Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.
South Africa	Cyril Ramaphosa	Parliament, by majority	Bicameral	1961	Constitutional monarchy (Commonwealth realm[16][17][18])[5]	Was a full parliamentary republic from 1961–1984; adopted an executive presidency in 1984.
Assembly-independent systems
Country	Head of state	Head of state elected by	Cameral structure	Assembly-independent republic adopted	Previous government form	Notes
Federated States of Micronesia	David W. Panuelo	Parliament, by majority	Unicameral	1986	UN Trust Territory (Part of Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands)
Guyana	Irfaan Ali	Semi-direct election, by first-past-the-post vote[19] (vacancies are filled by Parliament, by majority)	Unicameral	1980	Full parliamentary republic
San Marino	Francesco Mussoni Giacomo Simoncini	Parliament	Unicameral	1291	Theocracy (part of the Papal States)	Two collective heads of state and heads of government, the Captains Regent
Suriname	Chan Santokhi	Parliament	Unicameral	1987	Full parliamentary republic
Directorial systems
Country	Head of state	Head of state elected by	Cameral structure	Parliamentary republic adopted	Previous government form	Notes
Switzerland	Guy Parmelin Ignazio Cassis Ueli Maurer Simonetta Sommaruga Alain Berset Karin Keller-Sutter Viola Amherd	Parliament by exhaustive ballot at a joint sitting of both houses	Bicameral	1848	Confederation of states	Also has citizen-initiated referenda

List of former parliamentary republics and related systems

Country	Became a parliamentary republic	Status changed	Changed to	Reason for change	Notes
Full parliamentary republics
Armenian SSR	1920	1991	Semi-presidential system	Constitutional amendment
First Austrian Republic	1920	1929	Semi-presidential system	Constitutional amendment
Belarus	1990	1994	Presidential system	New constitution adopted
Brazil	1961	1963	Presidential system	Referendum
Burma (present-day Myanmar)	1948	1962	Military dictatorship	1962 Burmese coup d'état
Chile	1891	1924	Military junta	1924 Chilean coup d'état
	1925	1925	Presidential system	New constitution
Republic of China	1947	1972 (de facto)	Presidential system	Constitution suspended	The provisions establishing a parliamentary republic remain in the Constitution which is generally in effect, but are suspended by the Additional Articles, which have a sunset clause that will terminate them in the event of a hypothetical resumption of ROC rule in Mainland China.
		1991 (de jure; nominally remains parliamentary)	Semi-presidential system	Additional articles of the Constitution adopted
First Czechoslovak Republic	1920	1939	One-party state	Munich agreement
Third Czechoslovak Republic	1945	1948	One-party parliamentary republic	Coup d'état
Fourth Czechoslovak Republic	1948	1989	Multi-party parliamentary republic	Coup d'état	One-party system under the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia
Fifth Czechoslovak Republic	1989	1992	State dissolved	Velvet Divorce
State of East Indonesia	1946	1950	State dissolved	Merged to the Republic of Indonesia
French Third Republic	1870	1940	Puppet state	World War II German occupation
French Fourth Republic	1946	1958	Semi-presidential system	New constitution adopted
Georgian SSR	1921	1991	Semi-presidential system	Constitutional amendment
Guyana	1970	1980	Assembly-independent republic	New constitution adopted
Hungary	1946	1949	One-party state	Creation of the People's Republic of Hungary
Indonesia	1945	1959	Presidential system	Presidential constitution reinstated
Israel	1948	1996	Semi-parliamentary system	Constitutional amendment
Second Republic of South Korea	1960	1961	Military junta	16 May coup
Kyrgyzstan	2010	2021	Presidential system	New constitution adopted
Lithuanian First Republic	1920	1926	One-party state	1926 Lithuanian coup d'état	In June 1940, Lithuania was occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union.
Nigeria	1963	1966	Military dictatorship (which led in 1979 to the democratic, presidential Second Nigerian Republic)	Coup d'état
Pakistan	1956	1958	Military dictatorship	1958 Pakistani coup d'état
	1973	1978		1977 Pakistani coup d'état
	1997	1999		1999 Pakistani coup d'état
	2002	2003	Assembly-independent republic	Constitutional amendment
Second Polish Republic	1919	1935	Presidential system	New constitution adopted
First Portuguese Republic	1911	1926	Military dictatorship (which led in 1933 to the Estado Novo one-party presidential republic)	28 May coup
First Philippine Republic (Malolos Republic)	1899	1901	Military dictatorship (De facto United States Colony)	Capture of Emilio Aguinaldo to the American forces
Fourth Philippine Republic	1973	1981	Semi-presidential system (de facto Military dictatorship under Martial Law between 1972 and 1986.)	Constitutional amendment
Republic of the Congo	1960	1965	Military dictatorship (De facto one-party state)	1965 Congolese coup d'état
Rhodesia	1970	1979	Parliamentary system	Creation of Zimbabwe-Rhodesia	Political rights were restricted to the white minority
Russian SFSR	1917	1991	Semi-presidential system	Referendum
Soviet Union	1922	1990	Semi-presidential system	Constitutional amendment	Had a collective head of state with a distinct Chairman until 1989 One-party system under the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
First Spanish Republic	1873	1874	Constitutional monarchy	Restoration of the monarchy
Second Spanish Republic	1931	1939	One-party state (which declared itself a constitutional monarchy in 1947)	Coup d'état
Suriname	1975	1987	Assembly-independent republic	New constitution adopted
Sri Lanka	1972	1978	Semi-presidential system	Constitutional amendment
Syrian Republic	1930	1958	State dissolved	Creation of the United Arab Republic	Merged into the United Arab Republic, which operated as a One-party presidential system
Syrian Arab Republic	1961	1963	One-party presidential system	1963 Syrian coup d'état
Transvaal Republic	1852	1902	Colony of the British Empire	Second Boer War
Turkey	1923	2018	Presidential system	Constitutional amendment
Uganda	1963	1966	One-party state	Suspension of the constitution
Ukrainian SSR	1919	1991	Semi-presidential system	Constitutional amendment
Yugoslavia	1945	1953	Parliamentary republic with an executive presidency	Constitutional amendment	Had a collective head of state with a distinct Chairman One-party system under the Communist Party of Yugoslavia
Zimbabwe Rhodesia	1979	1979	Dependent territory	Reversion to Southern Rhodesia
Zimbabwe	1980	1987	Presidential system	Constitutional amendment
Parliamentary republics with an executive presidency
Country	Became a parliamentary republic with an executive presidency	Status changed	Changed to	Reason for change	Notes
Gambia	1970	1982	Presidential system	Constitutional amendment	The president was elected semi-directly by a constituency-based double simultaneous vote, with vacancies filled by Parliament; a motion of no confidence automatically entailed snap parliamentary elections. Presidential elections were made fully direct and separate from parliamentary elections in 1982.
Kenya	1964	2013	Presidential system	New constitution and elections	Originally, the president was elected semi-directly by a constituency-based double simultaneous vote, with vacancies filled by Parliament; a motion of no confidence automatically entailed either the resignation of the president or snap parliamentary elections. Presidential elections were made fully direct in 1969, including after a vacancy, but their schedule remained linked to the parliamentary elections. A separate Prime Minister existed between 2008 and 2013 The switch to a fully presidential system was legislated in 2010, but only took effect in 2013.
Yugoslavia	1953	1963	Assembly-independent republic	New constitution	One-party system under the League of Communists of Yugoslavia
Assembly-independent systems
Country	Became an assembly- independent republic	Status changed	Changed to	Reason for change	Notes
First Republic of Ghana	1960	1966	Military dictatorship (Which led to the fully parliamentary Second Republic of Ghana)	Coup d'état
Pakistan	1985	1997	Full parliamentary republic	Constitutional amendment
	2003	2010		Constitutional amendment
Serbia and Montenegro	1992	2000	Semi-presidential republic	Constitutional amendment
Tanganyika	1962	1964	State dissolved	Creation of the United Republic of Tanzania	Merged into the United Republic of Tanzania, which operated as a One-party presidential system
Yugoslavia	1963	1980	Directorial republic	New constitution and the death of Josip Broz Tito	One-party system under the League of Communists of Yugoslavia The change to a directorial system was legislated in 1973, but only took effect in 1980.
Directorial systems
Yugoslavia	1980	1992	—	Breakup of Yugoslavia	One-party system under the League of Communists of Yugoslavia