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|Head of state|
Examples by country
The word comes from french "Premier ministre" which means prime minister. "Premier" meaning "first", coming from Latin prīmārius. This is why in many nations, "premier" is used interchangeably with "prime minister".
In five of the British overseas territories (Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, the Turks and Caicos Islands, and the British Virgin Islands), the elected heads of government are styled as "Premier". In other overseas territories the equivalent post is styled as Chief Minister.
"Premier" is also the title of the heads of government in sub-national entities, such as the provinces and territories of Canada, states of the Commonwealth of Australia, provinces of South Africa, the island of Nevis within the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the nation of Niue. In some of these cases, the formal title remains "Prime Minister" but "Premier" is used to avoid confusion with the national leader. In these cases, care should be taken not to confuse the title of "premier" with "prime minister". In these countries, terms such as "Federal Premier", "National Premier" or "Premier of the Dominion" were sometimes used to refer to prime ministers, although these are now obsolete. In Cambodia, "Premier" means the "Prime Minister".
In Croatia, the head of government is officially called "President of the Government" (predsjednik vlade) but "Premier" (premijer) is colloquially used.
In Serbia, the head of government is officially called "President of the Government" (predsednik vlade) but "Premier" (premijer) is colloquially used.
A premier will normally be a head of government, but is not usually the head of state. In presidential systems, the two roles are often combined into one, whereas in parliamentary systems of government the two are usually kept separate.
- Premiers of Australia
- Premier of Bermuda
- Premier of the British Virgin Islands
- Premiers of Canada
- Premier of the Cayman Islands
- Premier of the People's Republic of China
- List of premiers of China
- Chancellor of China
- Premier of North Korea
- Premier of Montserrat
- Premiers of South Africa
- Premier of the Soviet Union
- Premier of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
- Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands
- President of the Council of Ministers
|Look up premier in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.|
- Westminster system
- Constitutional monarchy
- Semi-presidential system
- Semi-parliamentary system
- Parliamentary republic
- Parliamentary leader