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How is the government chosen and held to account?

The three common patterns are these. In a presidential system the president heads both the state and the government, is elected separately from the legislature, and cannot be removed by a simple vote of no confidence. In a parliamentary system the government must keep the confidence of parliament, and the head of state is a monarch or president with mostly ceremonial duties. In a semi-presidential system there is both an elected president with real powers and a prime minister answerable to parliament.

Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.

Is the head of government chosen by and answerable to parliament, or elected separately?

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Presidential (33)

Parliamentary (41)

Semi-presidential (13)

Monarch with strong powers (10)

Single-party state (5)

Other arrangements (3)

Read this before you quote the map

  • This map follows what each constitution says. Practice can differ widely: a country can be presidential on paper and dominated by one party, or parliamentary on paper and led by one person.
  • The line between 'semi-presidential' and 'parliamentary' is a matter of degree. Scholars disagree about Austria, Bulgaria, Georgia and others, so we have not coloured them.
  • Only countries we have checked are coloured. Constitutional changes can move a country from one group to another, as happened in Turkey.

Sources

Cite this map

TheLawToKnow Tools. Legal World Maps: How is the government chosen and held to account?. https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/legal-world-maps/form-of-government.

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