Irish nationality lawThe primary law governing nationality of the Republic of Ireland is the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, which came into force on 17 July 1956. Ireland is a member state of the European Union (EU) and all Irish nationals are EU citizens. They enjoy free movement rights in EU and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and may vote in elections to the European Parliament. All persons born in the Republic before 1 January 2005 are automatically citizens by birth regardless of the nationalities of their parents.
Alternative vote plusThe alternative vote plus (AV+), or alternative vote top-up, is a semi-proportional voting system. AV+ was devised by the 1998 Jenkins Commission which first proposed the idea as a system that could be used for elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom. As the name suggests, AV+ is an additional member system which works in two parts: the 'AV' part and the 'plus' part. As in the alternative vote system, candidates are ranked numerically in order of preference.
British nationality lawThe primary law governing nationality in the United Kingdom is the British Nationality Act 1981, which came into force on 1 January 1983. Regulations apply to the British Islands, which include the UK itself and the Crown dependencies, and the 14 British Overseas Territories. The six classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to the UK's historical status as a colonial empire. The principal class of British nationality is British citizenship, which is associated with the British Islands.
Member of parliamentA member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members often have a different title. The terms congressman/congresswoman or deputy are equivalent terms used in other jurisdictions. The term parliamentarian is also sometimes used for members of parliament, but this may also be used to refer to unelected government officials with specific roles in a parliament and other expert advisers on parliamentary procedure such as the Senate parliamentarian in the United States.
Constitutional convention (political custom)A constitutional convention is an informal and uncodified tradition that is followed by the institutions of a state. In some states, notably those Commonwealth of Nations states that follow the Westminster system and whose political systems derive from British constitutional law, most government functions are guided by constitutional convention rather than by a formal written constitution. In these states, actual distribution of power may be markedly different from those the formal constitutional documents describe.
SeneddThe Senedd (ˈsɛnɛð; parliament), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and Senedd Cymru (ˈsɛnɛð ˈkəmrɨ) in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees to certain taxes, and scrutinises the Welsh Government. It is a bilingual institution, with both Welsh and English being the official languages of its business. From its creation in May 1999 until May 2020, the Senedd was known as the National Assembly for Wales (lang).
Duverger's lawIn political science, Duverger's law holds that single-ballot majoritarian elections with single-member districts (such as first past the post) tend to favor a two-party system. The theory is attributed to Maurice Duverger, a French sociologist who published several papers on it in the 1950s and 1960s. In the course of further research, other political scientists began calling the effect a "law" or principle. As a corollary to the law, Duverger also asserted that proportional representation favors multi-partyism, as does the plurality system with runoff elections.
