Parliamentary Opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. Note that this article uses the term government as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning the administration or the cabinet rather than the state. The Westminster System is a democratic system of government modelled after that of the United Kingdom system, as used in the Palace of Westminster, the location of the UK parliament. ... A parliamentarian is a specialist in parliamentary procedure. ...

In non-proportionally representative assemblies, where the tendency to gravitate into two major parties or party groupings operates strongly, government and opposition roles can go to the two main groupings serially in alternation. In this context, the opposition forms a recognized, even semi-official "government-in-waiting". Its "opposing" can degenerate into a charade pending the eventual exchange of roles and occupation, or reoccupation, of the Treasury benches. Proportional representation (PR) is any election system which ensures a proportionally representative result of a democratic election, x% of votes should be represented by x% in the democratic institutions, parliament or congress. ... Duvergers Law is a principle which asserts that a first-past-the-post election system naturally leads to a two-party system. ... A political party is a political organization that subscribes to a certain ideology and seeks to attain political power within a government. ...

The more proportional a representative system, the greater the likelihood of multiple political parties appearing in the parliamentary debating chamber. Such systems can foster multiple "opposition" parties which may have little in common and minimal desire to form a united bloc opposed to the government of the day.

Some well-organized democracies, dominated long-term by a single faction, reduce their parliamentary opposition to tokenism. Singapore exemplifies a case of a numerically weak opposition; South Africa under the apartheid regime maintained a long-term imbalance in the parliament. In some cases tame "opposition" parties are created by the governing groups in order to create an impression of democratic debate. Tokenism refers to a policy or practice of limited inclusion of members of a minority group, usually creating a false appearance of inclusive practices, intentional or not. ...

By their very presence in the debating chamber, parliamentary oppositions recognize the legitimacy of the system of politics, and thus may share many of the views of the government. The opposition in such cases can justly claim the title of His/Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition. Often one must go to the extra-parliamentary oppositions to find radical or fundamental alternatives to the status quo.

The title of "Official Opposition" usually goes to the largest of the parties sitting in opposition with its leader being given the title Leader of the Opposition. The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest opposition party in a Westminster System of parliamentary government. ...

See also

• Loyal opposition

• Opposition (Australia)
• Official Opposition (Canada)
• Official Opposition (India)
• Official Opposition (Ireland)
• Official Opposition (New Zealand)
• Official Opposition (UK)