Resolution 2537 (2024)1Provisional version

Relationship between the parliamentary majority and the opposition in a democracy

Parliamentary Assembly

1. The promotion and consolidation of pluralist democracy are amongst the main objectives of the Councilof Europe and its Parliamentary Assembly. The member States of the Council of Europe shall endeavour todevelop common standards and practices aimed at promoting a free and pluralist parliamentary democracyand the means for their implementation in national parliaments.

2. In all national parliaments, there are provisions acknowledging the role of the opposition or theparliamentary minority in their dimension as political groups or individual parliamentarians not supporting thegovernment.

3. The best way of ensuring that the opposition discharges its responsibilities is to extend and preciselydefine its rights. However, in only a few Council of Europe member States do the laws or constitution explicitlymention the role of the opposition. Some constitutions recognise the opposition only in outline, leaving muchof the detail to be determined by ordinary legislation, statutory law or parliamentary rules of procedure, or byconvention, custom and tradition.

4. While there are considerable differences in the political and institutional cultures and components ofEuropean States, it is however possible to identify certain general principles which govern the relationshipbetween the parliamentary majority and its opposition and reflect the common European constitutionalheritage.

5. One major objective in parliamentary democracies is to create a situation where there is a sharedcommitment to the essentials of democracy by the majority and minority and a common desire to make “their”parliament work properly for the public good. There is still a long way to go before this objective is reached inthe wider Europe. A strengthened position of opposition in parliaments would be beneficial for the system ofchecks and balances in democracies.

6. More than any other forum, parliament is the place where democracy manifests itself, and in oursocieties there is hardly any debate that radically challenges the actual principle of representative democracy.Parliament is the institution that embodies society in the diversity of its composition and opinions and whichrelays and channels this diversity in the political process. Its vocation is to regulate tensions and maintainequilibrium between the competing claims of diversity and uniformity, individuality and collectivity, in order toenhance social cohesion and solidarity.

7. A democratic parliamentary system presumes an ethic of self-restraint on the part of the majority, withrespect for the rights and interests of the minority. Not all possible advantages should be taken, nor are theytaken in mature parliamentary systems. In parliaments where such a political culture exists, often with“unwritten” parliamentary conventions, the need for legal guarantees for the opposition and minority is less. Innew democracies, without such democratic traditions, the need for formal rules protecting the opposition mayoften be stronger.

1. Assembly debate on 15 April 2024 (9th sitting) (see Doc. 15946, report of Committee on Political Affairs andDemocracy, rapporteur: Ms Elvira Kovács). Text adopted by the Assembly on 15 April 2024 (9th sitting).

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Resolutions 2537 to 2547

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