Parliament is the
legislative branchA legislature is a type of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law...
of the government of
JamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, amounting to 11,100 km
2. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. It is a
bicameral bodyIn government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed...
, composed of an appointed
Senate and an elected
House of Representatives.
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Parliament is the
legislative branchA legislature is a type of deliberative assembly with the power to pass, amend and repeal laws. The law created by a legislature is called legislation or statutory law...
of the government of
JamaicaJamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length and as much as in width, amounting to 11,100 km
2. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harboring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
. It is a
bicameral bodyIn government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed...
, composed of an appointed
Senate and an elected
House of Representatives.
The Senate (
upper houseAn upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.- Possible specific characteristics :An upper house is usually distinct from the lower house in at least one of the following respects:...
) – the direct successor of a pre-Independence body known as the "Legislative Council" – comprises 21 senators appointed by the governor-general: thirteen on the advice of the
Prime MinisterThe Prime Minister of Jamaica is Jamaica's head of government, currently Bruce Golding. Bruce Golding was elected as the new leader of the governing Jamaica Labour Party and succeeded Portia Simpson-Miller to become Jamaica's eighth Prime Minister on 11 September 2007...
and eight on the advice of the
Leader of the oppositionParliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. Note that this article uses the term government as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e...
.
The House of Representatives, the
lower houseA 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...
, is made up of 60 (previously 45) Members of Parliament, elected to five-year terms on a first-past-the-post basis in single-seat constituencies.
See also