Jamaica+Politics

Politics
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Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) ||
 * ~ Government Type: ||||  Constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy ||
 * ~ Branches: ||||  Executive ||
 * ~  ||||  Judicial ||
 * ~  ||||  Legislative ||
 * ~  Subdivisions: ||||  14 Parishes ||
 * ~  Political Parties: ||||  People's National Party (PNP)

Jamaica's government may seem very confusing because it is actually two political systems blended together, but if you compare it to England's political system it makes more sense. First, there are two major parts that make up their head government- Parliament (legislative branch) and the Monarchy (executive branch).

It is easiest to understand if you think of Parliament as Jamaica's Congress. It is even made up both the House of Representatives and the Senate like the United States' Congress. However, Parliament has a head overseer called the Prime Minister, who is appointed by Jamaica's monarchy system. Not including the Prime Minister, the members of Parliament are voted into position by Jamaica's citizens on election day. Parliament is a very important part of the Jamaican government because they make the majority of important decisions that directly concern their country.

The Monarchy system of the Jamaican government is made up of the Queen of Jamaica and the Governor General. The current Queen of Jamaica may look familiar to you; she is also the Queen of England! While she has a very important title in the Jamaican government, she does not have a very active role (Give her a break, she does live in England, not Jamaica!). Instead, she appoints a Governor General to oversee Jamaica in her place; this Governor General would be similar to the President if this were in the United States. The Governor General's most important ruling as Governor General is to appoint a Prime Minister to see over Parliament. Other than that duty, the majority of the decisions are left up to Parliament to rule on.

Finally, the last branch of the Jamaican government is the judicial branch. It is made up of the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, Privy Council in the United Kingdom, and the Caribbean Court of Justice. These courts are put in place to add another level of checks and balances.



**What is a Parish?**
A parish is an area or community that was originally set up back when England ruled Jamaica. These areas were called parishes because they would typically have one main church or cathedral for the citizens in the area to attend. Today these parishes would be similar to a county if they were in the United States.