Prime minister in the context of "Political campaign"

An indirect election or hierarchical voting, is an election in which voters do not choose directly among candidates or parties for an office, but elect people who in turn choose candidates or parties. This electoral system is one of the oldest forms of elections and is used by many countries for heads of state (such as presidents), heads of government (such as prime ministers), and/or upper houses. It is also used for some supranational legislatures. The body that controls the federal executive branch (such as a cabinet) is in many countries elected indirectly by the head of government with exception of the directorial system. Upper houses, especially in federal republics, are often indirectly elected, either by the corresponding lower house or cabinet.

Positions that are indirectly elected may be chosen by a permanent body (such as a parliament) or by a special body convened solely for that purpose (such as an electoral college). An election can be partially indirect, for example in the case of indirect single transferable voting, where only eliminated candidates select other candidates to transfer their vote share to. Similarly, supranational legislatures can be indirectly elected by constituent countries' legislatures or executive governments.

The prime minister of Japan (内閣総理大臣, Naikaku Sōri Daijin; Japanese pronunciation: [naꜜi.ka.kɯ | soː.ɾʲi daꜜi.dʑiɴ]) is the head of government of Japan. The prime minister chairs the Cabinet of Japan and has the ability to select and dismiss its ministers of state. The prime minister also serves as the commander-in-chief of the Japan Self Defence Forces. The incumbent prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, took office on 21 October 2025; she is the first woman to serve as either president of the Liberal Democratic Party or prime minister.

The National Diet (parliament) nominates the prime minister from among its members (typically from among the members of the House of Representatives). They are then formally appointed by the emperor. The prime minister must retain the confidence of the House of Representatives to remain in office. The prime minister lives and works at the Naikaku Sōri Daijin Kantei (Prime Minister's Official Residence) in Nagatachō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, close to the National Diet Building.

A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the 'prime minister', 'premier', 'chief minister', 'chancellor' or other title.

In Commonwealth realm jurisdictions which use the Westminster system of government, ministers are usually required to be members of one of the houses of Parliament or legislature, and are usually from the political party that controls a majority in the lower house of the legislature. In other jurisdictions—such as Belgium, Mexico, Netherlands, Philippines, Slovenia, and Nigeria—the holder of a cabinet-level post or other government official is not permitted to be a member of the legislature. Depending on the administrative arrangements in each jurisdiction, ministers are usually heads of a government department and members of the government's ministry, cabinet and perhaps of a committee of cabinet. Some ministers may be more senior than others, and some may hold the title 'assistant minister' or 'deputy minister'. Some jurisdictions, with a large number of ministers, may designate ministers to be either in the inner or outer ministry or cabinet.

Absolute monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the sovereign is the sole source of political power, unconstrained by constitutions, legislatures or other checks on their authority. Throughout history, there have been many absolute monarchs: some famous examples are Louis XIV of France and Frederick the Great of Prussia.

Absolute monarchies today include Brunei, Eswatini, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Vatican City, and the individual emirates composing the United Arab Emirates, which itself is a federation of such monarchies – a federal monarchy. Although absolute monarchies are sometimes supported by legal documents (such as the King's Law of Denmark–Norway), they are distinct from constitutional monarchies, in which the authority of the monarch is restricted (e.g. by legislature or unwritten customs) or balanced by that of other officials, such as a prime minister, as in the United Kingdom or the Nordic countries.

A semi-presidential republic, or dual executive republic, is a republic in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter of the two being responsible to the legislature of the state. It differs from a parliamentary republic in that it has an executive president independent of the legislature; and from the presidential system in that the cabinet, although named by the president, is responsible to the legislature, which may force the cabinet to resign through a motion of no confidence.

While the Weimar Republic (1919–1933) and Finland (from 1919 to 2000) exemplified early semi-presidential systems, the term "semi-presidential" was first introduced in 1959, in an article by the journalist Hubert Beuve-Méry, and popularized by a 1978 work written by the political scientist Maurice Duverger. Both men intended to describe the French Fifth Republic (established in 1958).

His Majesty's Government, abbreviated to HM Government or otherwise UK Government, is the central executive authority of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the prime minister (Keir Starmer since 5 July 2024) who selects all the other ministers. The government is currently supported by the Labour party, which has had a majority in the House of Commons since 2024. The prime minister and his most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, known as the Cabinet.

Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House in which they sit; they make statements in that House and take questions from members of that House. For most senior ministers this is usually the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords. The government is dependent on Parliament to make primary legislation, and general elections are held at least once every five years to elect a new House of Commons, unless the prime minister advises the monarch to dissolve Parliament, in which case an election may be held sooner. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most likely to command the confidence of the House of Commons, usually by possessing a majority of MPs.

The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the office-holder must retain the support of a majority in the Dáil to remain in office.

The Irish word taoiseach means "chief" or "leader", and was adopted in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland as the title of the "head of the Government or Prime Minister". It is the official title of the head of government in both English and Irish, and is not used for the prime ministers of other countries, who are instead referred to in Irish by the generic term príomh-aire. The phrase an Taoiseach is sometimes used in an otherwise English-language context, and means the same as "the Taoiseach".