Congress

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In politics, Congress ("a gathering of people") is the name of the main legislative body in a state that operates under a congressional system of government.

A congress is different from a parliament (Westminster System of Government) in that legislative initiative is vested into it. In a congressional system the executive and legislative branches of government are clearly differentiated. Head of State (president) and Head of Government (prime minister) are typically merged into one office, and cabinet members are only rarely taken from the congress.

Countries with Congresses:

The U.S. Congress heads the constitutional legislative branch of the United States federal government
The Congress of the Philippines (Filipino: Kongreso ng Pilipinas) is the legislative branch of the Philippine government.
The National Congress of Brazil (Portuguese: Congresso Nacional) is Brazil's legislature.
The National Congress of Ecuador is the unicameral legislature of Ecuador

In France, the congrès is a formal and exceptional joint meeting of both houses of Parliament in order to ratify an amendment to the Constitution.

The legislature of the People's Republic of China is known in English as the National People's Congress. The PRC is nevertheless not a congressional system.

Contents

1 Political party
2 Political gatherings
3 Other assemblies
4 Scientific congresses
5 See also

Political party

Congress is included in the name of several political parties, especially those in former British colonies:

The People's National Congress of Guyana
The Indian National Congress of India
The Nationalist Congress Party of India
The Nationalist Trinamool Congress of India
The Tamil Maanila Congress of India
The Basotho Congress Party of Lesotho
The Lesotho Congress for Democracy of Lesotho
The Lesotho Peoples' Congress of Lesotho
The Malawi Congress Party of Malawi
The Malaysian Indian Congress of Malaysia
The Congress of Democrats of Namibia
The Nepali Congress of Nepal
The All People's Congress of Sierra Leone
The African National Congress of South Africa
The Pan-Africanist Congress of South Africa
The All Ceylon Tamil Congress of Sri Lanka
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress of Sri Lanka
The Ngwane National Liberatory Congress of Swaziland
The United National Congress of Trinidad and Tobago
The Ugandan People's Congress of Uganda

Political gatherings

Congress has also been used to describe certain historical gatherings of independence-minded nationalists or revolutionaries:

(Note, the political parties mentioned above also began as groups of this type)

Other assemblies

Many parties also have a Party Congress which is held every few years to make decisions for the party and elected governing bodies. These are sometimes called political conventions.

Scientific congresses

Congress is an alternative name for a large national or international academic conference.