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Elections. Unit 2. UK system of state and Government. Government and politics of the United Kingdom
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Elections
The political system established by the Constitution of 1993 provides the President with substantial superiority over other branches of the state. The President is elected to the office for ………….. of four years by the citizens of the Russian Federation on the basis of universal, direct and equal suffrage by ……… ………. In December 2008 the term was extended to 6 years. No one may hold ………… for more than two terms ……………. Russia has multiparty system with one dominant party United Russia. Presently there are four parties that make up the federal parliament, the State Duma: United Russia, Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Liberal Democratic Party of Russia, Just Russia. A candidate for the President of the Russian Federation can be ……………….. by a political party or by the candidate personally. In the later case the candidate must have an initiative group of 500 …………... A candidate who receives more than one half of the votes is considered elected. The President stops ……………… his duties ahead of time if he resigns, because of ………………, or if he cannot continue to carry out his duties due to poor health. ……………… of a new President are to take place within 3 months and in the meantime his duties are acted upon by the ……………………. of the Government of the Russian Federation.
В) Расскажите о выборах Президента Российской Федерации.
13. Самостоятельная работа. Подготовка к обсуждению следующих проблем на семинаре.
1. Выразите свое отношение к государственному устройству и политической системе вашей страны. Укажите преимущества и недостатки. Аргументируйте свою точку зрения.
2. Хотели бы вы стать Президентом Российской Федерации, членом Парламента или политиком? Какие меры по совершенствованию системы управления страной вы бы предложили?
UNIT 2. UK SYSTEM OF STATE AND GOVERNMENT
Text 2
1. Просмотрите текст 2 и озаглавьте каждый абзац, используя следующие заголовки.
UK Government. General Elections. Introduction. Cabinet Government. Judiciary. Parties. Parliament.
Government and Politics of the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is a unitary state and a democratic constitutional monarchy.
The constitution is uncodified, being made up of constitutional conventions and of various elements of statutory law. The Monarch is head of state and the Prime Minister is the head of government.
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The Sovereign formally appoints the Prime Minister, who, by convention, is the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons. Other ministers are appointed by the Sovereign on the advice of the Prime Minister. They make up the Government and act as political heads of the various Government Departments.
The UK has Cabinet Government. This means that government is done by committee. They meet weekly to run the country, while the British Parliament is in session. The UK Cabinet has collective responsibility for decision-making. no Cabinet minister can oppose it. Although the executive power is exercised by the Her Majesty’s Government, all the ministers remain responsible to the UK Parliament.
The UK Parliament is the United Kingdom’s supreme legislative body. The main function of Parliament is to pass laws and raise finance through taxation. It consists of the Queen and the two chambers of Parliament, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Commons is a representative body consisting of 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) elected by a system of universal suffrage. The House of Lords is not elected. It is not allowed to amend in any way certain bills passed by the House of Commons and has limited powers of revision or delay over others.
Great Britain has a long judicial history. The judiciary is an independent body. The United Kingdom doesn’t have a single unified judicial system. Today the UK has three distinct systems of law: English law, Northern Ireland law and Scots law. Both English law, which applies in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland law are based on common-law principles. The essence of common law is that law is made by judges sitting in courts, applying their common sense and knowledge of legal precedent to the facts before them. Scots law, a hybrid system based on both common-law and civil-law principles, applies in Scotland.
For electoral purposes Britain is divided into parliamentary constituencies of broadly equal population by the four Boundary Commissions. General elections must be called within five years. They are held following a dissolution of Parliament. The Prime Minister asks the Monarch to dissolve Parliament by Royal Proclamation. Traditionally the date of general elections is not fixed in advance, and the time is chosen by the governing party to maximize political advantages. Voting is by secret ballot and takes place on Polling Day. Since 1935 every general election has been held on a Thursday by universal suffrage.
The voters in the United Kingdom also elect members of the European Parliament on a broadly proportional system of voting.
The UK has sometimes been called a “two-and-a-half” party system, because parliamentary politics is dominated by the Labour Party and Conservative Party, with the Liberal Democrats holding a significant number of seats (but still less than Labour and the Conservatives) and several small parties. The party in power requires the support of the people it governs. Without this most basic requirement, a government will find it hard to function effectively. If a party loses an election, it will confirm the right of the victorious party to exercise power. It will not deny its right to govern.
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