Suffrage in the context of "Suffragette"

A parliament is the type of legislature, or law-making body, of a state based on the fusion of powers. Generally, a parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the executive government via hearings and inquiries. Its role is similar to that of a senate, synod or congress. The term parliament is commonly used in countries that are current or former monarchies. Some contexts restrict the use of the word to parliamentary systems, although it is also used to describe the legislature in some presidential systems (e.g., the Parliament of Ghana), even where it is not in the official name. A parliament is typically made up of elected members, who are legislators.

Historically, parliaments included various kinds of deliberative, consultative, and judicial assemblies. Parliamentary gatherings in the Middle Ages began to establish that monarchs were subject to law and first summoned representatives of common people, notably the Cortes of León in 1188 and an English parliament in 1265. During the early modern period, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 in Britain established the primacy of parliamentary sovereignty, through which the rule of law could be enforced. Many other modern concepts of parliamentary government developed subsequently in the Kingdom of Great Britain (1707–1800). Expansion of suffrage in the 19th and 20th centuries led to parliaments around the world becoming democratically elected.

An electoral (congressional, legislative, etc.) district, sometimes called a constituency, riding, or ward, is a geographical portion of a political unit, such as a country, state or province, city, or administrative region, created to provide the voters therein with representation in a legislature or other polity. That legislative body, the state's constitution, or a body established for that purpose determines each district's boundaries and whether each will be represented by a single member or multiple members. Generally, only voters (constituents) who reside within the district are permitted to vote in an election held there. The district representative or representatives may be elected by single-winner first-past-the-post system, a multi-winner proportional representative system, or another voting method.

The district members may be selected by a direct election under wide adult enfranchisement, an indirect election, or direct election using another form of suffrage.

In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford University political scientists Adam Bonica and Michael McFaul, there is a consensus among political scientists that "democracies perform better when more people vote."

Institutional factors drive the vast majority of differences in turnout rates. For example, simpler parliamentary democracies where voters get shorter ballots, fewer elections, and a multi-party system that makes accountability easier see much higher turnout than the systems of the United States, Japan, and Switzerland.

An electoral system is a set of rules and mechanisms used to determine the results of an election. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments and also in non-political settings such as business, nonprofit organizations and informal organisations. These rules govern all aspects of the voting process: when elections occur, who is allowed to vote, who can stand as a candidate, how many votes are cast by each voter, how ballots are marked and cast, how the ballots are counted or weighed, how votes translate into the election outcome (seats), limits on campaign spending, and other factors affect the process. Political elections are defined by constitutions or electoral laws, are typically conducted by election commissions, and may use one or more electoral systems for different offices

Some electoral systems elect a single winner to a position, such as prime minister, president or governor, while others elect multiple winners, such as members of parliament or boards of directors. When electing a legislature, areas may be divided into constituencies with one or more representatives or the electorate may elect representatives as a single unit. Voters may vote directly for an individual candidate or for a list of candidates put forward by a political party or alliance. There are many variations in electoral systems.

The labour movement is the collective organisation of working people to further their shared political and economic interests. It consists of the trade union or labour union movement, as well as political parties of labour. It can be considered an instance of class conflict.

• In trade unions, workers campaign for higher wages, better working conditions and fair treatment from their employers, and through the implementation of labour laws, from their governments. They do this through collective bargaining, sectoral bargaining, and when needed, strike action. In some countries, co-determination gives representatives of workers seats on the board of directors of their employers.

• Political parties representing the interests of workers campaign for labour rights, social security and the welfare state. They are usually called a labour party (in English-speaking countries), a social democratic party (in Germanic and Slavic countries), a socialist party (in Romance countries), or sometimes a workers' party.
• Though historically less prominent, the cooperative movement campaigns to replace capitalist ownership of the economy with worker cooperatives, consumer cooperatives, and other types of cooperative ownership. This is related to the concept of economic democracy.

The labour movement developed as a response to capitalism and the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, at about the same time as socialism. The early goals of the movement were the right to unionise, the right to vote, democracy, safe working conditions and the 40-hour week. As these were achieved in many of the advanced economies of Western Europe and North America in the early decades of the 20th century, the labour movement expanded to issues of welfare and social insurance, wealth distribution and income distribution, public services like health care and education, social housing and in some cases common ownership.

The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Article One of the U.S. Constitution in enumerated matters to pass or defeat federal government legislation, known as bills. Those that are also passed by the Senate are sent to the president for signature or veto. The House's exclusive powers include initiating all revenue bills, impeaching federal officers, and electing the president if no candidate receives a majority of votes in the Electoral College.

Members of the House serve a fixed term of two years, with each seat up for election before the start of the next Congress. Special elections may also occur in the case of a vacancy. The House's composition was established by Article One of the United States Constitution. The House is composed of representatives who, pursuant to the Uniform Congressional District Act, sit in single member congressional districts allocated to each state on the basis of population as measured by the United States census, provided that each state gets at least one representative. Since its inception in 1789, all representatives have been directly elected. Although suffrage was initially limited, it gradually widened, particularly after the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment and the civil rights movement.