Parliament Seating Arrangements

32 comments
  1. I wonder how ministers, and other persons, speak in the Circle configuration. They always have the half assembly behind.

  2. I wonder if the opposing benches lead to more tribalism and less cooperation between the ruling side and opposition.

    The classroom style is clearly designed for single party states.

  3. Noticed some time ago that the UK parliament has a very peculiar feature where there are far fewer seats than there are members of parliament, so it wouldn’t even be possible to hold a session where everyone is present at the same time. Wonder if that’s in use anywhere else?

  4. For Belgium, the semicircle disposition is true for the Federal Parliament and also the Flemish parliament and the Parliament of the German speaking community. But it’s an opposing bench disposition for the Parliament of Wallonia.

  5. makes sense. The romanian parliament is nothing more than a classroom full of kids pretending to be adults

  6. The colours are whack. The three greens are barely distinguishable: the horseshoe is a descendant of the opposing benches, as should be clear from the fact that it’s mostly Commonwealth countries that use it.

  7. So as far as I get it; this should be pretty much what those designs want to convey:

    Opposing Benches: easiest design for a two-party-system; government on one side – opposition on the other – wear your gloves no punches below the belt

    Semicircle: design for a multi-party-system; divide into parties – we want to debate here, please be civil

    Horseshoe: You see… we had Opposing Benches… but we wanted to switch to semicircle but didn’t have the budget to do so, so now we are stuck with this weird-ass neither fish nor fowl solution, sorry it’s the best we could do.

    Classroom: We are not really a democracy, this is for show and you know it, now shut up – teacher is talking!

    Circle: Don’t ask me; that designer we asked seemed to be really competent… yeah, I know his office smelled kinda weird and I got dizzy after five minutes there, but… well we have a circle now! Are you also hungry? I want pizza, who is down for pizza?

  8. Interesting how authoritarian governments and the classroom style go hand-in-hand. With one leader, lecturing those below them like lowly students.

  9. Why there’s so many infographics like these who completely ignore the fact that colorblind people exist? Half the crap I see on this subreddit doesn’t make any sense, because half the figures are in the same color.

  10. Old Polish Parliament used to have three opposing benches arranged in a rectangle with the king sitting on the fourth side, kind of similar to the British one. And it was open air, in the fields near Warsaw.

  11. Worth pointing out that the UK has four legislatures.

    1. UK Parliament (Westminster) – Opposing Benches
    2. Welsh Parliament / Senedd Cymru (Cardiff) – Circle
    3. Scottish Parliament / Pàrlamaid na h-Alba (Edinburgh) – Semicircle
    4. Northern Ireland Assembly / Tionól Thuaisceart Éireann (Belfast) – Horseshoe/Opposing Benches

    Coupled with multiple voting systems – the reality is less simplistic than this picture belies.

  12. Going by the comments they got some stuff wrong.

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    China’s parliament is mostly semi-circle with a classroom at the front.

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    [https://www.google.com/search?q=%E5%85%A8%E5%9B%BD%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E4%BB%A3%E8%A1%A8%E5%A4%A7%E4%BC%9A&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwijzdiIjJv0AhXPRfEDHbF5BxMQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1920&bih=955&dpr=1#imgrc=vVZO00CRuBkKDM](https://www.google.com/search?q=%E5%85%A8%E5%9B%BD%E4%BA%BA%E6%B0%91%E4%BB%A3%E8%A1%A8%E5%A4%A7%E4%BC%9A&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwijzdiIjJv0AhXPRfEDHbF5BxMQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1920&bih=955&dpr=1#imgrc=vVZO00CRuBkKDM)

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    Taiwan’s parliament is shaped with 2 semi-ovals.

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    https://www.google.com/search?q=Legislative+Yuan&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjQiPDzjZv0AhWKLMAKHRgXA90Q_AUoAnoECAEQBA&biw=1920&bih=955#imgrc=uN3TA7Yel3lLuM&imgdii=y3zD0oLNBFSPNM

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