Party Chief
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In a governmental system, a party leader acts as the official representative of their
political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
, either to a
legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...
or to the electorate. Depending on the country, the individual colloquially referred to as the "leader" of a political party may officially be
party chair In politics, a party chair (often party chairperson/-man/-woman or party president) is the presiding officer of a political party. The nature and importance of the position differs from country to country, and also between political parties. Th ...
,
secretary A secretary, administrative assistant, executive assistant, personal secretary, or other similar titles is an individual whose work consists of supporting management, including executives, using a variety of project management, program evalu ...
, or the highest political office. The party leader is often responsible for managing the party's relationship with the general public and leading the competition against political rivals, similar to the role of a
party spokesperson {{Party politics A party spokesperson (also known as party spokesman or party spokeswoman) is any member of a political party (at any regional level of the party structure) who is charged by the leaders of the party with communicating the party's ...
. As such, they will take a leading role in developing and communicating
party platform A political party platform (American English), party program, or party manifesto (preferential term in British and often Commonwealth English) is a formal set of principal goals which are supported by a political party or individual candidate, t ...
s to the electorate. In many representative democracies, party leaders compete directly for high political office. It is thus typical in such states (notably in the
Westminster system The Westminster system, or Westminster model, is a type of parliamentary system, parliamentary government that incorporates a series of Parliamentary procedure, procedures for operating a legislature, first developed in England. Key aspects of ...
) for the party leader to seek election to the
legislature A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial power ...
and, if elected, to simultaneously serve as the party's
parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislature, legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. ...
. In several countries utilizing the
parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their Election, democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of t ...
, if the party leader's political party emerges with a
majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...
of seats in parliament after a
general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...
, is the leading party in a
coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...
, or (in some instances) is the largest party in a minority parliament, that party's leader often serves as the
prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
. Thus, in the politics of several countries utilizing the
parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their Election, democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of t ...
, a political party's leader is treated as a de facto candidate for prime minister by the media and the general public, even if said office is technically not directly elected. Party Head or leader of a political party, subject to party's constitutional document need not be elected member of legislature and is therefore different from leader of parliamentary committee of a party. This is much harder to do in
presidential Presidential may refer to: * "Presidential" (song), a 2005 song by YoungBloodZ * Presidential Airways (charter), an American charter airline based in Florida * Presidential Airways (scheduled), an American passenger airline active in the 1980s * ...
and
semi-presidential system A semi-presidential republic, or dual executive republic, is a republic in which a president exists alongside a prime minister and a cabinet, with the latter two being responsible to the legislature of the state. It differs from a parliament ...
s, where the chief executive is a
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
who can only be removed by a special
impeachment Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In Eur ...
(typically involving a legislative
supermajority A supermajority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority rules in a democracy can help to prevent a majority from eroding fun ...
, an investigation by a
constitutional court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ru ...
, or both), and removal entails either a
snap election A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled. Snap elections in parliamentary systems are often called to resolve a political impasse such as a hung parliament where no single political party has a ma ...
or automatic succession to office by a
vice president A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...
; therefore, the party's de jure internal leader either takes a background role (such as the Chairs of the Democratic, and Republican parties in the United States, who serve more so as the chief administrative officers of their respective political parties), or the leadership may be automatically bestowed on an incumbent president who belongs to the party (such as the
Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...
in Taiwan). In countries using the Westminster system, the leader of the largest political party not within the government serves as the
leader of the opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...
.


Examples


Canada

In
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, the leaders of all major
political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
are chosen during their respective political party's
leadership convention {{Politics of Canada In Politics of Canada, Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leadership, leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader. Overview In Canada, ...
s upon the completion of a
leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a ...
. Exceptions to this process sometimes occur when Members of Parliament leave their former party to form a new party; examples of this include when Jean-François Fortin quit the
Bloc Québécois The Bloc Québécois (, , BQ) is a centre-left politics, centre-left and list of federal political parties in Canada, federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism, Quebecois nationalism, social democracy, and the promotion o ...
to form
Strength in Democracy Strength may refer to: Personal trait *Physical strength, as in people or animals *Character strengths like those listed in the Values in Action Inventory *The exercise of willpower Physics * Mechanical strength, the ability to withstand ...
in 2014 and when
Maxime Bernier Maxime Bernier (; born January 18, 1963) is a Canadian politician who is the founder and leader of the People's Party of Canada (PPC). Formerly a member of the Conservative Party of Canada, Conservative Party, Bernier left the caucus in 2018 t ...
quit the Conservative Party to form the
People's Party of Canada The People's Party of Canada (PPC; ) is a federal political party in Canada. The party was formed by Maxime Bernier in September 2018, shortly after his resignation from the Conservative Party of Canada. It is placed from the right to the far ...
in 2018.


Mainland China

The leaders of communist parties often hold the title of
general secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...
(e.g.
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union The General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. was the Party leader, leader of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). From 1924 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union, country's dissoluti ...
and
General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party ( zh, s=中国共产党中央委员会总书记, p=Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Zǒngshūjì) is the leader of the Chinese Communist Part ...
) and the officeholder is usually considered the
paramount leader Paramount leader () is an informal term for the most important Supreme leader, political figure in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The paramount leader typically controls the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Liberatio ...
of China. On 15 November 2012,
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...
was elected General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party at the 18th Communist Party national congress.


Germany

The party organizations themselves and also their representatives (such as the chairperson, who is the party leader, and other board members) play a much more prominent role in German politics than they do in many other countries, where the parties are mainly represented by their members and leaders in government. Although the party leaders often also hold important public offices (such as
government minister A minister is a politician who heads a ministry, making and implementing decisions on policies in conjunction with the other ministers. In some jurisdictions the head of government is also a minister and is designated the ' prime minister', ' p ...
or
parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislature, legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. ...
), those roles are clearly separated, even by law. Consequently, it does occasionally happen that the leaders of a German party are not even members of parliament, such as
Saskia Esken Saskia Christina Esken (' Hofer; born 28 August 1961) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as co-leader of the party since being 2019 Social Democratic Party of Ger ...
and
Lars Klingbeil Lars Klingbeil (; born 23 February 1978) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) serving as the Vice Chancellor of Germany and Federal Minister of Finance since 6 May 2025. He has served as the SPD's Co-Leader since 2021, to ...
, who are incumbent the chairpersons of the (governing)
Social Democrats Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, s ...
. This sometimes leads to open conflicts between the party leadership, its
parliamentary group A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political party, political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller politic ...
and its members of government.


Netherlands

In the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
, the party leaders are the most senior politicians within the
political parties in the Netherlands This article lists Political party, political parties in the Netherlands. The country has a multi-party system with numerous political parties, and any one party has little chance of gaining power alone; parties work with each other to form coa ...
. The leaders outwardly act as the 'figurehead' and the main representative of the party. Within the party, they must ensure political consensus. At election time the leader is always the
Lijsttrekker In politics, a lead candidate (; , ) is the candidate placed first on a party list. In parliamentary systems, it is often the party's nominee for the position of head of government, and the party chair or party leader. Usage by country Net ...
(top candidate) of the
party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...
. Outside election time the leaders most often serve as
Parliamentary leader A parliamentary leader is a political title or a descriptive term used in various countries to designate the person leading a parliamentary group or caucus in a legislature, legislative body, whether it be a national or sub-national legislature. ...
of their party in the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
, some party leaders opt to serve in the cabinet as a minister.


South Korea

In the
Republic of Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...
, Representatives of most political parties are elected through elections of party members. The representative of the
Democratic Party of Korea Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (Cyprus) (DCY) **Democratic Part ...
is Song Young-gil, who was elected in May 2021, and the representative of the conservative opposition PPP is
Lee Jun-seok Lee Jun-seok (; born 31 March 1985) is a South Korean politician who has served as the member of the National Assembly for Hwaseong B since 2024. A member of the Reform Party, he was the party's nominee in the 2025 presidential election a ...
, a famous young politician who was elected in June 2021. In the Democratic party's presidential election, it is also elected through public opinion polls, not party members. For the PPP, however, they calculate the public opinion poll and the party member poll by 50:50.


Taiwan

The major political parties in Taiwan are the
Democratic Progressive Party The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is a centre to centre-left Taiwanese nationalist political party in Taiwan. As the dominant party in the Pan-Green Coalition, one of the two main political camps in Taiwan, the DPP is currently the ...
and the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
. The Democratic Progress Party's constitution stipulates that the President may serve directly as Party Chairman without an election during the ruling period, and that the Party Chairman is elected by party members during the opposition period. The Party constitution of the Kuomintang provides that the party chairman is directly elected by party members. The current chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party is President
Lai Ching-te Lai Ching-te (; pinyin: ''Lài Qīngdé''; born 6 October 1959), also known as William Lai, is a Taiwanese politician and former physician who is currently serving as the eighth president of the Republic of China (Taiwan) since May 2024. He is ...
. The current chairman of the Kuomintang is former Vice Premier
Eric Chu Eric Li-luan Chu (; born on 7 June 1961) is a Taiwanese politician, statistician, and academic who is currently the Chairman of the Kuomintang, chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT). Born into a political family with strong ties to the Kuomintan ...
.


Turkey

In
Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
, the party chairpersons are the de facto party leaders. The leaders of all major
political parties A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...
are chosen during their respective political party's
leadership convention {{Politics of Canada In Politics of Canada, Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to choose a leadership, leader due to a vacancy or a challenge to the incumbent leader. Overview In Canada, ...
s upon the completion of a
leadership election A leadership election is a political contest held in various countries by which the members of a political party determine who will be the leader of their party. Generally, any political party can determine its own rules governing how and when a ...
. Exceptions to this process sometimes occur when Members of Parliament leave their former party to form a new party. It is possible to co-chair a party. The party leader is the most prominent politician of the party and is usually considered to become the
head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...
. However, a party leader may also put forward a different candidate for the elections. The party leader (chairperson) can not be the same as the party's
General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...
.


United Kingdom

The method of selection of the party leader varies from party to party, though often it will involve an election involving all or part of the party membership. In some parties, only incumbent members of the
parliamentary party A parliamentary group, parliamentary caucus or political group is a group consisting of members of different political parties or independent politicians with similar ideologies. Some parliamentary systems allow smaller political parties, who a ...
, or particular party office-holders, may vote; in others, such as the
British Labour Party The Labour Party, often referred to as Labour, is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that sits on the Centre-left politics, centre-left of the political spectrum. The party has been describe ...
, though the entire membership is eligible to vote, some electors may have a much larger share of the vote than others (see also
Superdelegate In American politics, a superdelegate is a delegate to a presidential nominating convention who is seated automatically. In Democratic National Conventions, superdelegates—described in formal party rules as the party leaders and electe ...
for a similar concept). If only one candidate emerges, they are said to be "elected by
acclamation An acclamation is a form of election that does not use a ballot. It derives from the ancient Roman word ''acclamatio'', a kind of ritual greeting and expression of approval towards imperial officials in certain social contexts. Voting Voice vot ...
" or "ratified" by the general membership (sometimes the term "anointed" occurs informally or in media discourse).
Sir Keir Starmer Sir Keir Rodney Starmer (born 2 September 1962) is a British politician and lawyer who has served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since 2024 and as Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party since 2020. He previously ...
is leader of the Labour Party and
Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
, while
Kemi Badenoch Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke Badenoch (' Adegoke; born 2 January 1980) is a British politician who has served as Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservati ...
was elected the leader of the Conservative Party, and thus
Leader of the Opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the Opposition (parliamentary), largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the ...
, in November 2024.


United States

If elected, political parties have party leaders in the executive branch of the United States government. The
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
becomes the de facto leader of their respective political party once elected, and the
Vice President A vice president or vice-president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vi ...
likewise holds a leadership role as both the second-highest executive officer and the
President of the Senate President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of a senate. It corresponds to the Speaker (politics), speaker in some other assemblies. The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction's Order of succession, succes ...
. However, major parties also generally have a National Committee as their governing body, which has separate leadership roles. The legislative branch, otherwise known as the
United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...
, is made up of the upper chamber, the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
, and the lower chamber, the
House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...
, with party-elected leaders in each. The leader of the party with most of the representation (sometimes called the party-in-power) in each case is known as the majority leader, whereas the leader of the opposing party with the most members is known as the minority leader. Party leaders in the United States Senate have been elected by their respective political parties' caucuses since 1913. They include President of the Senate
JD Vance James David Vance (born James Donald Bowman, August2, 1984) is an American politician, author, attorney, and Marine Corps veteran who is the 50th vice president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republic ...
,
President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate The president pro tempore of the United States Senate (often shortened to president pro tem) is the second-highest-ranking official of the United States Senate, after the Vice President of the United States, vice president. According to Articl ...
Chuck Grassley Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate since 2025, a role he also held from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Re ...
, Senate Majority Leader
John Thune John Randolph Thune ( ; born January 7, 1961) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Dakota, a seat he has held since 2005. A Republican, Thune has been the Senate majority leader and Senate Republica ...
and Senate Majority Whip
John Barrasso John Anthony Barrasso III ( ; born July 21, 1952) is an American physician and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from Wyoming, a seat he has held since 2007. A mem ...
on the Republican side, and Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from New York (state), New York, a seat he has held since 1999. ...
and Senate Minority Whip
Dick Durbin Richard Joseph Durbin (born November 21, 1944) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of Illinois, a seat he has held since 1997. A member of the Dem ...
on the Democratic side. Party leaders of the United States House of Representatives, The party leaders of the House of Representatives are elected by their respective parties in the House by secret ballot. The Republican Party is represented in the House by Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, whereas the Democratic Party is represented by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. In the House of Representatives, the most powerful official is the House-elected Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Speaker. Ken Martin serves as the chair of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, while Michael Whatley serves as the chair of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party.


See also

*Party secretary *Party chair


References

{{Authority control category:Leaders of political parties, category:Organizational structure of political parties