A question of translation: Is it not an "investiture debate" rather than one of confidence? I understand the former as being an application for the job, whereas the latter is an attempt to hang on to it under pressure from the opposition.
I've always thought not. The Spanish and British systems are not exactly similar but confidence debate does the job, otherwise you'd have to explain what "investiture" was all the time. Do enough MPs want him or not? Just that in the Spanish system, there is one at the start of each parliament to become PM as well. In the UK, whoever wins just goes to the palace and that's that, unless later on somebody tables the motion of (no) confidence.
That is a clear difference between the British FPP system and the PR systems common to most (non-British) Europeans. I wonder whether Germans, French, Belgians, etc have "investiture debates"(?????) I'm afraid my knowledge of the internal mechanisms of their political machinery is very limited.
Crikey, no idea about the finer points of Belgium or France. I think it's just the way it's done. I suppose you could have FPP and a rule that says you need a first confidence debate, or PR with no first confidence debate.
A question of translation: Is it not an "investiture debate" rather than one of confidence? I understand the former as being an application for the job, whereas the latter is an attempt to hang on to it under pressure from the opposition.
I've always thought not. The Spanish and British systems are not exactly similar but confidence debate does the job, otherwise you'd have to explain what "investiture" was all the time. Do enough MPs want him or not? Just that in the Spanish system, there is one at the start of each parliament to become PM as well. In the UK, whoever wins just goes to the palace and that's that, unless later on somebody tables the motion of (no) confidence.
That is a clear difference between the British FPP system and the PR systems common to most (non-British) Europeans. I wonder whether Germans, French, Belgians, etc have "investiture debates"(?????) I'm afraid my knowledge of the internal mechanisms of their political machinery is very limited.
Crikey, no idea about the finer points of Belgium or France. I think it's just the way it's done. I suppose you could have FPP and a rule that says you need a first confidence debate, or PR with no first confidence debate.