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UK and "Westminster system" countries
Despite being an impartial position, the Speaker in a Westminster system parliament has to stand for re-election if (s)he wishes to stay. In the Republic of Ireland the Speaker (Ceann Comhairle) is deemed to have been elected if he seeks re-election; in the United Kingdom it is a constitutional convention that no major party will put up a candidate against the 'Speaker seeking re-election'. However in 2005 the Scottish National Party put up a candidate against the incumbent speaker (Michael Martin). United StatesIn the United States, in the United States House of Representatives and in state legislatures and local government councils, the speaker is usually selected by the members of the majority party and functions as a leader of that party. Thus, though the speaker is expected to be fair, he or she uses procedural rulings to advance the causes and agenda of his or her own party. Ceremonially, the speaker may represent the whole house, but politically he or she is the legislative voice of the party in power. There is one prominent case of a speaker who is not presiding officer. The New York City Council, the unicameral legislative body for New York City, has as its presiding officer the Public Advocate, a position formerly known as City Council President, who is elected by all the voters of the city. As the public advocate's role has changed with several city charter revisions, a post of Council Speaker was created. The speaker is, effectively, majority leader of the council.
The Speaker of the United States House of Representatives is currently Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who is the first woman ever to serve as the Speaker. Similar postsThe presiding officer for an upper house of a bicameral legislature usually has a different title, e.g., the British House of Commons and the United States House of Representatives, although he or she has substantially the same duties. There is, however, a Speaker of the Canadian Senate, that country's upper house. For example, in the United Kingdom, the presiding officer of the House of Lords was until recently the Lord Chancellor, who was also a member of the government (a cabinet member) and the head of the judicial branch. The chancellor did not have the same authority to discipline members of the Lords that the speaker of the Commons has in that house. (On 4 July 2006 the office was reformed, and the first Lord Speaker Baroness Haymen took to the woolsack.) In the U.S., the Vice-President of the United States is the constitutionally-designated President of the Senate, the upper house of Congress. Hence, the president of the United States begins his speeches to joint sessions of Congress addressing "Mr. President," meaning his own vice president as chair of the Senate. In practice, however, modern vice presidents almost never take the chair except on certain state occasions or to break a tie. Similarly, most U.S. states have bicameral state legislatures with the lower house (variously called the House of Representatives, Assembly, or House of Delegates) led by a speaker, and the upper house (invariably called the Senate) led by a president or, less often, a speaker. The upper houses in Australia and Chile have presidents. List
References
See also
es:Presidente de la Cámara ja:議長 ru:Спикер sv:Talman
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