Lower house Totally Explained

Everything about Lower House totally explained

A lower house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house.
Despite its theoretical position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide the lower house has come to wield more power. The supremacy of the lower house usually arises from special restrictions placed (either explicitly by legislation or implicitly by convention) on the powers of the upper house, which often can only delay rather than veto legislation or has less control over money bills. Under parliamentary systems it's usually the lower house alone that designates the head of government or prime minister, and may remove them through a vote of no confidence. There are exceptions to this however, such as the Prime Minister of Japan, who is formally selected with the approval of both houses of the Diet. A legislature composed of only one house is described as unicameral.

Common attributes

In comparison with the upper house, lower houses frequently display the certain characteristics:

Given greater power, usually based on restrictions against the upper house.
Directly elected (apportionment is usually based on population).
Given more members.
Elected more often, and all at once.
Given total or original control over budget and monetary laws.
Able to override the upper house in some ways.
In a presidential system, given the sole power to impeach the executive (the upper house then has to try the impeached).

Titles of lower houses

Common names

Many lower houses are named in the following manner: House/Chamber of Representatives/the People/Commons/Deputies.

Chamber of Deputies

Chamber of Representatives

House of Assembly

House of Commons

House of Representatives

Legislative Assembly

National Assembly (hence also Bundestag, German for federal assembly)

Less common titles

Congress of Deputies - Spain

Dáil Éireann - Republic of Ireland

House of Keys - Isle of Man

Lok Sabha (House of the People) - India

National Council - Switzerland, Austria

Sejm - Poland and Seimas - Lithuania

State Duma (Государственная Дума - Gosudarstvennaya Duma) - Russia

Tweede Kamer (Second Chamber) - Netherlands

Odelsting (Lower house in name only) Norway

Further Information

Get more info on 'Lower House'.

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