Parliamentary republic

A parliamentary republic is a republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the executive branch (called the government in such systems) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). Both executive and legislative powers are ultimately held within the parliament (fusion of powers) as most commonly the government is a subset of the members of the parliament (as opposed to congressional systems, where the congress - the legislature - is part of the government in the wider sense of the word).

There are a number of variations of parliamentary republics. Most have a clear differentiation between the head of government and the head of state, with the head of government holding real power and the head of state being a ceremonial position, similar to constitutional monarchies. In some countries the head of state has reserve powers to use at their discretion as a non-partisan "referee" of the political process. Some parliamentary republics (parliamentary republics with an executive presidency) have combined the roles of head of state and head of government, like presidential systems, but with a dependency upon parliamentary confidence.

In general, parliamentary republics grant the highest sovereign powers to the parliament. However, much like in monarchies, the head of state occupies an important formal role on the top of the legal system. The head of state, called a president (or president of the republic) in parliamentary republics, is usually elected directly by popular vote. However, there are some notable exceptions, where the president is elected by a special assembly or electoral college (e.g. Germany) or by members of parliament (e.g. Italy) in a special process.