House of Representatives

House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often called a "Senate". In some countries, the House of Representatives is the sole chamber of a unicameral legislature.

The functioning of a house of representatives can vary greatly from country to country, and depends on whether a country has a parliamentary or a presidential system. Members of a House of Representatives are typically apportioned according to population rather than geography.

National legislatures

The Indonesian People's Representative Council (Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, DPR) is generally known in English as the "House of Representatives", as is the Dewan Rakyat of the Parliament of Malaysia and the Dáil Éireann of the Irish Oireachtas parliament.

"The House of Representatives" currently is the name of a house of the legislature in the following countries:

CountryEnglish nameLocal name
 Antigua and BarbudaHouse of Representatives (Antigua and Barbuda)
 AustraliaAustralian House of Representatives
 BahrainCouncil of Representatives (Bahrain)Arabic: مجلس النواب (Majlis an-nuwab)
 BelarusHouse of Representatives (Belarus)Belarusian: Палата прадстаўнікоў (Palata pradstaŭnikoŭ)
Russian: Палата представителей (Palata predstavitelej)
 BelgiumChamber of Representatives (Belgium)Dutch: Kamer van Volksvertegenwoordigers
French: Chambre des Représentants
German: Abgeordnetenkammer
 BelizeHouse of Representatives (Belize)
 Bosnia and HerzegovinaHouse of Representatives of Bosnia and HerzegovinaBosnian: Predstavnički dom
Croatian: Zastupnički dom
Serbian Cyrillic: Представнички дом
 ColombiaChamber of Representatives of ColombiaSpanish: Cámara de Representantes
 EgyptHouse of Representatives (Egypt)Arabic: مجلس النواب (Majilis Al-Nuwab)
 EthiopiaHouse of Peoples' RepresentativesAmharic: የሕዝብ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት (Ye-Hizib Tewekayochi Mikir Bēt)
 GrenadaHouse of Representatives (Grenada)
 IndonesiaHouse of Representatives (Indonesia)Indonesian: Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat
 IrelandHouse of Representatives of IrelandIrish: Dáil Éireann
 JamaicaHouse of Representatives
 JapanHouse of Representatives (Japan)Japanese: 衆議院 (Shūgiin)
 JordanHouse of Representatives (Jordan)Arabic: مجلس النواب (Majlis al-Nuwaab)
 LiberiaHouse of Representatives of Liberia
 MalaysiaHouse of RepresentativesMalay: Dewan Rakyat[note 1]
 MoroccoHouse of Representatives (Morocco)Arabic: مجلس النواب (Majlis al-Nuwab)
Berber languages: ⴰⴳⵔⴰⵡ ⵉⵎⴰⵔⴰⵢⴻⵏ (Asqqim n Imura)
French: Chambre des représentants
 Myanmar (Burma)House of RepresentativesBurmese: ပြည်သူ့လွှတ်တော် (Pyithu Hluttaw)
   NepalHouse of Representatives (Nepal)Nepali: प्रतिनिधि सभा (Pratinidi Sabha)
 NetherlandsHouse of Representatives (Netherlands)Dutch: Tweede Kamer, lit.'Second Chamber'
 NigeriaHouse of Representatives (Nigeria)
 PhilippinesHouse of Representatives of the PhilippinesFilipino: Kapulungan ng mga Kinatawan
Spanish: Cámara de Representantes)
 TajikistanAssembly of Representatives (Tajikistan)Tajik: Маҷлиси намояндагон (Majlisi namoyandagon)
 ThailandHouse of Representatives (Thailand)Thai: สภาผู้แทนราษฎร (Sapha Phuthaen Ratsadon)
 Trinidad and TobagoHouse of Representatives (Trinidad and Tobago)
 United StatesUnited States House of Representatives
 UruguayChamber of Representatives of UruguaySpanish: Cámara de Representantes
 YemenHouse of Representatives (Yemen)Arabic: مجلس النواب (Majlis al-Nuwaab)

In the following countries it is the sole chamber in a unicameral system:

CountryEnglish nameLocal name
 CyprusHouse of Representatives (Cyprus)Greek: Βουλή των Αντιπροσώπων (Vouli Antiprosópon)
Turkish: Temsilciler Meclisi
 IraqCouncil of Representatives of IraqArabic: مجلس النواب العراقي (Majlis Al-Niwab Al-Iraqi)
Kurdish: ئه‌نجومه‌نی نوێنه‌ران (Enjumen-e Nûnerên)
 LibyaHouse of Representatives (Libya)Arabic: مجلس النواب (Majlis an-Nuwwab)
 MaltaHouse of RepresentativesMaltese: Kamra tad-Deputati
 New ZealandNew Zealand House of RepresentativesMāori: Whare o ngā Māngai
 TunisiaAssembly of the Representatives of the PeopleArabic: مجلس نواب الشعب (Majless Noweb al Shaab)
French: Assemblée des représentants du peuple, ARP

Subnational legislatures

House of Representatives is the title of most, but not all, of the lower houses of U.S. state legislatures, with the exceptions usually called "State Assembly", "General Assembly", or more rarely, "House of Delegates".

In Germany, the Landtag parliament of the city and state of Berlin, the Abgeordnetenhaus, is known in English as the House of Representatives.

In Tanzania, the semi-autonomous islands of Zanzibar has its own legislative body, the Zanzibar House of Representatives.

Defunct Houses of Representatives

From 1867 until 1918, in Cisleithania, the Austrian part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy, the lower house of the Imperial Council (Reichsrat) parliament, the Abgeordnetenhaus was generally known in English as "House of Representatives". Since 1855 the lower house in the Landtag assembly of Prussia was called Abgeordnetenhaus, as distinct from the upper House of Lords.

In 1934, the Nebraska voters approved a unicameral legislature dissolving the House of Representatives and transferring its powers to the Senate.

The Kenyan House of Representatives was combined with the Senate in 1966, to form an enlarged single chamber parliament, known as the National Assembly. The Senate was re-established as an upper house following the 2010 Kenyan constitutional referendum.

Under the First and Second Republics, the National Assembly of South Korea was officially bicameral, consisting of the House of Councillors and House of Representatives. In practice, however, the National Assembly was unicameral under the First Republic, as the first election of the House of Councillors was not held until the Second Republic was founded in 1960. Following a military coup the following year, the National Assembly was dissolved. Since its restoration in December 1963, the National Assembly has been unicameral.

The House of Representatives of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) was the lower chamber of the parliament established in 1947 according to the Soulbury Constitution. The 1972 First Republican Constitution of Sri Lanka replaced it with the unicameral National State Assembly.

The Parliament of Sierra Leone, like its counterparts in other former British colonies, began as a Legislative Council. It was inaugurated in 1863 but was renamed the House of Representatives in 1954.

Following the surrender of South Vietnam to North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces in 1975, a Provisional Revolutionary Government established itself in Saigon and disbanded the bicameral National Assembly consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Under apartheid, the House of Representatives was the house for South Africa's mixed race 'Coloured' community, in the Tricameral Parliament of 1984 to 1994.

In 1994 the House of Representatives of the Gambia was dissolved in a coup d'état led by Yahya Jammeh. It was replaced as the legislature by the National Assembly according to the 1997 Constitution of The Gambia.

The House of Representatives of Fiji was the lower chamber of Fiji's Parliament from 1970 to 2006. It was suspended by the 2006 military coup. The 2013 Constitution abolished it and replaced it with a single chamber Parliament.

Notes

  1. Literally, "People's Hall"

See also

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