Who is more powerful president or prime minister?Answer in points
Answers
The selection of the Prime Minister is only a formal power of the President, as the President must choose the candidate who can command a majority in the Lok Sabha. However, the President can play a role of increased importance when no one party can command a majority in the Parliament.
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President of a country is its head of state and often its head of government as well. They are elected by the people or by an electoral college of some sort (which can include members of a legislature) to serve a set term and are not responsible to the legislature. In other words, a President is usually free to act according to his own policies without the fear of being removed by a motion of censure/no confidence by a legislature. They can however be removed through impeachment from a legislature, though this is normally used only when a President has committed a crime or violated their country’s constitution. They also often hold the title of Commander-in-chief of the armed forces, though the actual weight of that title varies (i.e. it could be merely symbolic).
Prime Minister is the head of government of their country and not the head of state. They are usually appointed to their post by the head of state (this is because the office historically evolved from whoever served as the chief adviser to the head of state) with the approval of the legislature and are then responsible to to the legislature, and generally can hold office as long as they command the legislature’s approval. If the legislature disapproves of their policies, it can remove them with a motion of censure/no confidence. It is common for Prime Ministers to be members of the legislature and they may take their seat or address the legislature to advance their proposals.
From these general differences, we can determine that Presidents usually have more independent executive power, as they can set their own policies without fear of reprisal as long as they follow the law. Prime Ministers, however, usually have more legislative power, because they need to command a legislative majority in order to remain in office and use that majority to pass legislation that supports their policies.
The parliamentary system is constructed like that on purpose, so that the legislative agenda of a country works together with the executive agenda, allowing a government to function without stagnation. However, if the majority in the legislature is unstable, then a succession of no confidence motions can overturn Prime Ministers’ governments, creating executive instability, while all the while there may be no real legislative accomplishments.
A President would not have to worry about being dismissed by the legislature and is free to conduct their own executive actions, thus allowing the executive branch of a government to function in spite of legislative turmoil. However, if the President does not agree with the legislature on policy chances are their legislative agenda will never be achieved, creating other stagnation issues.