A parliamentary vote is an official ballot on a pending legislative proposal. The purpose of the procedure is to allow persons who disagree with a particular point of view to present their views and have them debated in parliament. This is a central tenet of the Westminster system of government, which is found in countries that are members of the Commonwealth of Nations or that were influenced by the British political tradition, including Canada, Australia and India.
The parliamentary system combines democratic elections with a cabinet headed by the Prime Minister, who is elected through the plurality method of electoral representation in individual constituencies and leads a political party or coalition of parties. The head of state is typically a hereditary monarch in a constitutional monarchy, an elected president or chancellor in a democratic republic, or, as in Germany, Italy and Latvia, a ceremonial leader who takes on some executive functions, such as delivering state speeches.
Legislators, called MPs in the United Kingdom, are elected through a plurality system and represent electoral districts, with the party of the winner having a majority of seats in parliament. The parliament may be bicameral with two chambers or unicameral, with one chamber.
The parliament debates issues of national interest, approves the European Union budget and scrutinizes how funds are spent. It also elects the European Commission President, appoints Commissioners and upholds the EU values of respect for human rights, democracy, freedom and the rule of law. The parliamentary system is often touted as more democratic than the presidential alternative because it does not require the checks and balances among power-sharing departments that can slow the pace of action and create paralyzing gridlocks in a presidential system.