Nominated Member of Parliament

A Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) is a Member of the Parliament of Singapore who is appointed by the President. They are not affiliated to any political party and do not represent any constituency. There are currently nine NMPs in Parliament. The introduction of NMPs in September 1990, effected to bring more independent voices into Parliament, was an important modification of the traditional Westminster parliamentary system that Singapore had.

NMPs are appointed for a term of two and a half years on the recommendation of a Special Select Committee chaired by the Speaker of Parliament. The Committee may nominate persons who have rendered distinguished public service or who have brought honour to Singapore, and also invites proposals of candidates from community groups in the fields of arts and letters, culture, the sciences, business, industry, the professions, social or community service, and the labour movement. In 2009, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong proposed in Parliament that the Committee should also invite nominations from the civil society such as candidates from the environmental movement, young activists, new citizens, and community and grassroots leaders. In addition, the Committee must have regard to the need for NMPs to reflect as wide a range of independent and nonpartisan views as possible.

Member of parliament

A member of parliament (MP) is the representative of the voters to a parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this category includes specifically members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members, such as senator.

Members of parliament tend to form parliamentary groups (also called parliamentary parties) with members of the same political party.

Westminster system

The Westminster system is a democratic parliamentary system of government modelled after the politics of the United Kingdom. This term comes from the Palace of Westminster, the seat of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

Australia

A member of parliament is a member of the House of Representatives, the lower house of the Commonwealth (federal) parliament. Members may use "MP" after their names; "MHR" is not used, although it was used as a post-nominal in the past. A member of the upper house of the Commonwealth parliament, the Senate, is known as a "Senator".

Croatian Parliament

The Croatian Parliament (Croatian: Hrvatski sabor) or the Sabor is the unicameral representative body of the citizens of the Republic of Croatia; it is Croatia's legislature. Under the terms of the Croatian Constitution, the Sabor represents the people and is vested with legislative power. The Sabor is composed of 151 members elected to a four-year term on the basis of direct, universal and equal suffrage by secret ballot. Seats are allocated according to the Croatian Parliament electoral districts: 140 members of the parliament are elected in multi-seat constituencies, 8 from the minorities and 3 from the Croatian diaspora. The Sabor is presided over by a Speaker, who is assisted by at least one deputy speaker (usually four or five deputies).

The Sabor's powers are defined by the Constitution and they include: defining economic, legal and political relations in Croatia, preservation and use of its heritage and entering into alliances. The Sabor has the right to deploy the Croatian armed forces abroad, and it may restrict some constitutional rights and liberties in wartime or in cases of imminent war or following natural disasters. The Sabor amends the borders of Croatia or the Constitution, enacts legislation, passes the state budget, declares war and decides on cessation of hostilities, adopts parliamentary resolutions and bylaws, adopts long-term national security and defence strategies, implements civil supervision of the armed forces and security services, calls referenda, performs elections and appointments conforming to the constitution and applicable legislation, supervises operations of the Government and other civil services responsible to the parliament, grants amnesty for criminal offences and performs other duties defined by the constitution.

Parliament of Ireland

The Parliament of Ireland was a legislature that existed in Dublin from 1297 until 1800. It comprised two chambers: the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The House of Lords consisted of members of the Irish peerage and the bishops (after the Reformation, Church of Ireland bishops), while the Commons was directly elected, albeit on a very restricted franchise.

The main purpose of parliament was to approve taxes that were then levied by and for the Lordship of Ireland. Those who would pay the bulk of taxation, the clergy, merchants and landowners, naturally comprised the members. In 1541 the parliament voted to create the Kingdom of Ireland.

Over the centuries, the Irish parliament met in a number of locations both inside and outside Dublin - the first place of definitive date and place was Castledermot, County Kildare on 18 June 1264 some months earlier than the first English Parliament containing representatives of towns and cities. However, this Irish Parliament was a meeting of Irish nobles and bishops, not representatives of Irish people. Later, in the 15th century, Irish parliaments began to invite representatives of the people.