AMember of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in alegislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of afederated state or anautonomous region, but is also used for several national legislatures.
Members of the Legislative Assemblies ofNew South Wales,[1]Queensland[2] andVictoria, and the Houses of Assembly ofSouth Australia andTasmania use the suffixMP.[3] Previously, these states used the suffixes MLA[4] and MHA respectively.
Members of the Legislative Assemblies ofWestern Australia,Northern Territory, andAustralian Capital Territory are known as MLAs. However, the suffix MP is also commonly used.
In the federal parliament, members of theHouse of Representatives are designated MP and not MHR.[5]
In Brazil, members of all 26 legislative assemblies (Portuguese:assembléias legislativas) are calleddeputados estaduais (English:state deputies). Unlike the federal legislative body which isbicameral, Brazilian state legislatures areunicameral.
TheFederal District legislative assembly is called theLegislative Chamber (Portuguese:Câmara Legislativa) and is composed ofdeputados distritais (English:district deputies). Members of theLower House are also called deputies, but they aredeputados federais (English:federal deputies).
InCanada, members of the federalHouse of Commons of Canada are described asmembers of Parliament (MPs) and members of theSenate as senators, although both the House and Senate are part of theParliament of Canada. Both senators and MPs are considered to be parliamentarians. Members of provincial and territorial legislative assemblies are called MLAs in allprovinces and territoriesexcept:
This means that despite the fact that ten out of thirteen provinces and territories use the term "MLA", a large majority (62.8%) of Canadians refer to their provincial legislators as something other than "MLA" (due to Ontario's large population, slightly more people use the term "MPP" alone than use "MLA").
Despite styling its legislature as theHouse of Assembly like Newfoundland and Labrador,Nova Scotia describes its legislators as MLAs.
Members of theLegislative Assembly of the Falkland Islands use the suffix MLA. In 2009 theLegislative Council of the Falkland Islands (which had existed since the 1840s) was replaced with the new Legislative Assembly. As a result, Members of the Legislative Assembly are often still referred to asCouncillors.
Members of theLegislative Council of Hong Kong are referred to asLegco Councillors.
Of the28 states and eight Union Territories (UTs) of India, all 28 states and three UTs (Delhi,Puducherry, andJammu and Kashmir) havelegislative assemblies.
A person, ifqualified, may be elected as an MLA based onuniversal adult suffrage by an electorate consisting of all citizens above the age of 18 of that state or UT. Those elected or appointed to aLegislative Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) are referred to as Members of the Legislative Assembly or MLAs.
Each legislative constituency of the State or UT is represented by only one MLA. As outlined in the Constitution of India, the number of legislative seats in a legislature cannot be more than 500 members and fewer than 60 members. However, with an Act of Parliament, the seats can be fewer than 60, as such is the case in the states ofGoa,Sikkim,Mizoram and the UT ofPuducherry.
Depending on the population and other factors, each State or UT has varying numbers of MLAs, the highest being in the state ofUttar Pradesh (403) and the least in the UT of Puducherry (30).
Owing to parliamentary democracy, wherein some members of the legislature also act as the executive, some MLAs may have triple responsibilities: as an MLA, as a cabinet minister of a department and/or as a chief minister of that state.
A state legislative assembly comprises elected representatives from single-member constituencies during state elections through the first-past-the-post system. The majority party in each assembly forms the state government, and the leader of the majority party becomes chief minister of the state. The state legislative assemblies are unicameral, unlike the bicameral Parliament of Malaysia. The hereditary rulers or governors are vested with powers to dissolve their respective state legislative assemblies on the advice of the chief minister. Once dissolved, elections must be carried out within an interim period of sixty (60) days. Usually, state elections are held simultaneously with the federal parliamentary elections, with the exception of Sarawak, and before 2004, Sabah.[6]
Members of theNorthern Ireland Assembly, thedevolvedlegislature ofNorthern Ireland are known as MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly).
The Assembly was suspended on October 14, 2002 but the persons elected to it at the2003 Assembly Election were called together on 15 May 2006 under the Northern Ireland Act 2006[7] for the purpose of electing a First Minister and deputy First Minister and choosing the members of an Executive (before 25 November 2006) as a preliminary to the restoration of devolved government in Northern Ireland. Anotherelection was held on 7 March 2007 and powers were restored to the Assembly in May 2007.
A member of any of theprovincial legislative assemblies may be referred to as anMLA in English.
In theUnited States of America,state legislator is a generic term referring to a member of the legislative body of any of the country's 50states.
The formal name of the legislature varies from state to state. In 24 states, it is simply called theLegislature or theState Legislature, while in 19 states, the legislature is called theGeneral Assembly. In Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the legislature is called theGeneral Court, while North Dakota and Oregon designate the legislature as theLegislative Assembly.
TheAssociated Press guidelines for journalists recommend referring to state legislators asstate representatives orstate senators to avoid confusion with their federal counterparts.
Members of theSenedd, thedevolved Parliament forWales, are usually known asMSs orAelodau o'r Senedd (ASau).[8]
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