Five Important Merits of Parliamentary form of Government are described below:
(1) One of the principal merits of the parliamentary government is that it provides for the maintenance of harmonious relations between the legislative and the executive branches of government.
Ministers are heads of the executive departments and at the same time they are members of the legislature constituting the majority party. The wishes of the majority are therefore, carried on with great zeal and strength. Deadlocks are also avoided as the legislature and the executive are constituted in the same body of persons.
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(2) It is the best specimen of representative democracy as it recognises the ultimate sovereignty of the people and ensures ministerial responsibility. The executive is continuously responsible to the legislative assembly and as such any serious misuse of executive power can be checked readily through the immediate removability of cabinet members.
(3) A third merit of parliamentary government is its flexibility and elasticity. People can easily change the government It is therefore, specially suitable to meet emergencies. In special circumstances, a smooth change of leadership is possible without bloody revolution.
Bagehot, an English political philosopher, highly praised parliamentary government, because people in this system can “choose a ruler for the occasion” who may be specially qualified to tackle the situation. At the time of the Second World war Chamberlain was replaced by Churchill without any political upheaval in England.
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(4) Another advantage of the parliamentary form of government is that it can claim high educative value. It cannot function without well organised political parties. Political parties formulate, organise and educate public opinion.
The object of every political party is to win elections and capture the government. They place different manifestoes before the people.
All this makes the people politically conscious and vigilant. Parliamentary government is also a government by criticism. The opposition criticizes the government and brings the government on the proper track in cases of its misleading.
(5) Lastly, the merit of parliamentary government is its achievement of a close union between law-making and administration. Since ministers are the members of the legislature as well as the political heads of administrative departments, administrative considerations are not” likely to be overlooked in ‘he enactment of laws.
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At the same time the top executives, in approaching the administrative problems of the governments, are mindful of the legislative point of view. On the other hand, ‘”formation in the possession of administrative agencies is always available to the legislative branch in the discharge of its policy determining function.