In one of our posts, we pointed out the roles of the legislature in a democratic government to include oversight, legislation, and a platform for debate.
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The roles of the law-making organ of government can be carried out by a chamber or two chambers.
The two types of legislature are unicameral and bicameral and we shall briefly look at their meaning and the countries where they are practised.
Composition of the legislature
When a legislature is made up of a single house of the legislature, it is called unicameralism. It is called bicameralism when there are two houses within a legislature. The composition varies from country to country.
Countries where there is unicameral legislature
The unicameral legislature is practised in over 100 countries around the world. They are:
- Niger
- Guinea
- Tanzania
- Togo
- Africa
- Angola
- Benin
- Mauritania
- Mauritius
- Burkina Faso
- Guinea-Bissau
- Mozambique
- Cape Verde
- Libya
- Malawi
- Maldives
- Botswana
- The Gambia
- Ghana
- Bangladesh
- Brunei
- East Timor
- Georgia
- Iran
- Israel
- North Korea
- South Korea
- Kuwait
- Kyrgyzstan
- Laos
- Lebanon
- Mongolia
- Palestine
- Qatar
- Saudi Arabia
- Singapore
- Sierra Leone
- Afghanistan
- Armenia
- Azerbaijan
- Sri Lanka
- Kiribati
- Nauru
- New Zealand
- Niue
- Samoa
- Solomon Islands
- Syria
- Turkey
- Vietnam
- Albania
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- Greece
- Hungary
- Iceland
- Latvia
- Liechtenstein
- Norway
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Dominica
- El Salvador
- Guatemala
- Honduras
- Nicaragua
- Panama
- Cook Islands
- Fiji
- Tonga
- Tuvalu
- Vanuatu
- Ecuador
- Guyana
- Suriname
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Malta
- Moldova
- Monaco
- Montenegro
- Portugal
- San Marino
- Serbia
- Slovakia
- Sweden
- Ukraine
- Vatican City
- Chad
- Djibouti
- Eritrea
- Mali
- Senegal
- Tunisia
- Uganda
- Zambia
- Seychelles
- Marshall Islands
- North Macedonia
- Republic of Peru
- Papua New Guinea
- São Tomé and Príncipe
- Central African Republic
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
Countries where there is a bicameral legislature
Over 80 countries including the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia all have bicameral legislatures. They are:
- Cameroon
- Chile
- Colombia
- DR Congo
- Algeria
- Bahamas
- Bahrain
- Barbados
- Belarus
- Belize
- Bhutan
- Bolivia
- Burundi
- Cambodia
- Congo
- Eswatini
- Ivory Coast
- Jamaica
- Japan
- Jordan
- Kazakhstan
- France
- Gabon
- Grenada
- Haiti
- Indonesia
- Ireland
- Italy
- Kenya
- Lesotho
- Liberial
- Madagascar
- Morocco
- Myanmar
- Namibia
- Netherlands
- Argentina
- Spain
- Tajikistan
- Thailand
- Palau
- Oman
- Paraguay
- Philippines
- Polan
- Romania
- Rwanda
- Saint Lucia
- Slovenia
- Somaliland
- South Africa
- Turkmenistan
- Uruguay
- Yemen
- Uzbekistan
- Zimbabwe
- United States
- Switzerland
- Belgium
- Brazil
- Somalia
- Russsia
- Pakistan
- Nigeria
- Mexico
- Nepal
- India
- Austria
- Australia
- Malaysia
- Germany
- Ethiopia
- Canada
- United Kingdom
- Czech Republic
- Equatorial Guinea
- Dominican Republic
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Trinidad and Tobago
- Central African Republic
Takeaway:
There are two types of legislature, they are unicameral (one legislative house) and bicameral (two houses of lawmakers).
In another article, we will examine the merits and the demerits of each of the systems in a modern-day democracy.
