Today Prime Minister of Great Britain, Tony Blair, announced he will step down on June 27th. I happened to be studying abroad in London when he was elected 10 years ago and remember the climate of change that came with the election, which brought the Labour party into majority.
For those of you who don't know how the parliamentary system works, it is different then the presidential system (which we have here in America). The people elect members of Parliament and the party that has the largest membership gets to select the Prime Minister. Generally when the elections are held the populace knows who is going to be selected as Prime Minister, but the Prime Minister can be changed without having another election (which is what will happen in Britain). Want to learn more about the two types of Democracy? Check out the U.S. state department's What's Democracy, the Democratic government chapter compares the two forms of government.
Want to read more about his resignation? Check out the Prime Minister's announcement with links to an image gallery. Read more on the Washington Post article "Britain's Blair Announces His Resignation: Long-Serving Labor Party Leader to Step Down on June 27" By Kevin Sullivan."
Want to know more about Great Britain? Check out the library's guide?
No comments:
Post a Comment