House of Representatives is a name used by many countries to describe the lower house(s) of their parliament, congress, or legislature. (The corresponding upper house is typically called a Senate.) The functioning of a house of representatives can vary greatly from country to country. Some operate under the rules of a Westminster System while others are more congressional. Members of a House of Representatives are typically apportioned according to population rather than different regions.
The House of Representatives is the name of the lower house of:
- the United States Congress; see United States House of Representatives
- the Diet of Japan; see House of Representatives of Japan
- the Australian Parliament; see Australian House of Representatives
- the Irish Parliament; (where it goes under the Irish language title Dáil Éireann); see Irish House of Representatives
- the Congress of the Philippines; see House of Representatives of the Philippines
- most (but not all) of the legislatures of the States in the United States of America; see state legislature.
- the Parliament of Malaysia (where it goes under the Malay language title of Dewan Rakyat)
- the parliament in other Commonwealth countries such as Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji and Belize
- Puerto Rico; see Puerto Rico House of Representatives
In Indonesia, the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR) is generally known in English as the 'House of Representatives'.
Under apartheid, the House of Representatives was the House for South Africa's mixed race Coloured community, in the tricameral Parliament between 1984 and 1994.
See also: Chamber of Deputies, National Assembly, House of Commons
