Fraction or parliamentary party is a term used to refer to the representation of a political party within a legislative assembly, a parliament but also a city council. A legislature is a type of representative deliberative assembly with the power to adopt laws. ... This is a list of legislatures by country, whether parliamentary or congressional, that act as a plenary general assembly of representatives with the power to legislate. ... States currently utilizing parliamentary systems are denoted in red and orange—the former being constitutional monarchies where authority is vested in a parliament, and the latter being parliamentary republics whose parliaments are effectively supreme over a separate head of state. ... A Member of Parliament, or MP, is a representative elected by the voters to a parliament. ... A congress is a gathering of people, especially a gathering for a political purpose. ... A Congressman or Congresswoman (generically, Congressperson) is a politician who is a member of a Congress. ... For unicameral alphabets, see the article letter case. Unicameralism is the practice of having only one legislative or parliamentary chamber. ... The bicameral legislature of the United States is housed in a capitol building with two wings. ... Tricameralism is the practice of having three legislative or parliamentary chambers. ... Many parliaments or other legislatures consist of two chambers: an elected lower house, and an upper house or Senate which may be appointed or elected by a different mechanism from the lower house. ... An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. ... A senate is a deliberative body, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature. ... A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. ... A parliamentary system, also known as parliamentarianism (and parliamentarism in U.S. English), is distinguished by the executive branch of government being dependent on the direct or indirect support of the parliament, often expressed through a vote of confidence. ... A city council is the most common style of legislative government in a city or town. ... A councillor is a member of a council (such as a city council), particularly in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and other parts of the Commonwealth. ... // Political scientists have developed concepts of different ideal types of political parties in order to better compare them with each other. ... States currently utilizing parliamentary systems are denoted in red and orange—the former being constitutional monarchies where authority is vested in a parliament, and the latter being parliamentary republics whose parliaments are effectively supreme over a separate head of state. ... A city council is the most common style of legislative government in a city or town. ...

The term especially applies to Germany (where the term fraktion is used), Switzerland (fraction/fraktion/frazione), to Austria (the term club), Belgium (fractie/fraction/fraktion) and the Netherlands (fractie) which all have recognized multiparty systems and strong party discipline. Here organizing parliamentary parties are the only way to gain financial and personal support for parties and for MPs to join parliamentary committees. Parliamentary parties have chairs, which are often important political players. For parties who are not in government, the chair is often the party's political leader. Some parliamentary parties such as the German Bündnis 90/Die Grünen has a two member chair. Parliamentary parties often use party discipline to control the votes of their members. MPs can also chose to leave their own party and set up their own fraction. The Dutch parliament currently has five such one person parliamentary parties. A committee is a (relatively) small group that can serve one of several functions: Governance: in organizations too large for all the members to participate in decisions affecting the organization as a whole, a committee (such as a Board of Directors) is given the power to make decisions. ... Party symbol of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen Bündnis 90/Die Grünen (literally: Alliance 90/The Greens), the German Green Party, is a political party in Germany whose regional predecessors were founded in the late 1970s as part of the new social movements. ... Party discipline is the ability of a political party to get its members to support the policies of the party leadership. ... There are several terms used in Dutch politics which are not easily translated into English. ...

The European Parliament party group are similar to parliamentary parties. They are more regulated than other kinds of parliamentary parties: to gain financial support or to join committees, each group must consist of no less than 19 MEPs from five different EU member states have to be member. Party groups in the European Parliament combine the MEPs from European political parties, informal European political blocs, and independents. ... A Member of the European Parliament (English abbreviation MEP)[1] is a member of the European Unions directly-elected legislative body, the European Parliament. ... // The flag of the Council of Europe and the European Union. ...

Other uses

Within some communist parties the term was used to refer to factions. A Communist party is a party which promotes Communism. ... A political faction is presently an informal grouping of individuals, especially within a political organisation, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with some kind of political purpose (referred to in this article as the “broader organisation”). It may also be referred to as a power...

"A Fraction is a Party organisation inside a representative or delegate body. (It is also used for a grouping of all the Communists and their followers inside a trade union or similar organization.)" (Communist Party of Great Britain, 1922.)

The Red Army Faction, for example, should be correctly translated from the German as Red Army Fraction, although this name is not widely used. Year 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar). ... Red Army Faction Insignia - a Red Star and a Heckler & Koch MP5 The Red Army Faction (or Red Army Fraction; also commonly known as the Baader-Meinhof Group [or Gang]; in German: Rote Armee Fraktion or simply RAF), was postwar West Germanys most active and prominent left-wing terrorist...