List of abolished upper houses

This is a list of abolished upper houses of bicameral legislatures and parliaments at national and lower levels of government. The reasons for abolition include removal of unelected houses, under-representation of ethnic/religious minorities, under-representation of women, cost-cutting in government expenditure, longer and unlimited terms in office (leading to accusations of monarchism), and to speed up the process of legislation due to upper house scrutiny.

Australia

The Legislative Council of Queensland was the upper house of the Parliament of Queensland and was entirely appointed by the Governor of Queensland. The Labor Government of Ted Theodore made the necessary appointments, and on 27 October 1921, the Legislative Council voted itself out of existence. All other Australian states continue to have bicameral systems.

Belgium

Upon the country's independence, Belgium had a fully bicameral system with the Chamber of Representatives and the Senate having equal power. The Senate has not been abolished, but over time (especially in 1993) the parliamentary system was reformed so that nowadays it is closer to a unicameral system with the Chamber of Representatives being the most important one. The next reform in 2013-2014 will further reduce the bicameral system.

The country also changed from a unitary to a federal state, but all of the regional parliaments created in the 1970s-1990s are unicameral ones.

Canada

Federal

Both the New Democratic Party and the Bloc Québécois have called for the abolition of the Senate of Canada; furthermore, the NDP does not actively hold seats in the Senate due to its abstention from the House, and has called for a referendum on the abolition of the Senate. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper has stated that the Senate "must either change or—like the old upper houses of our provinces—vanish".

Support for the abolition of the Senate has been voiced by the premiers of five provinces: Ontario, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Nova Scotia .

Abolish The Senate is an organization calling for the abolition for the Canadian Upper House.

Provincial-level

Some Canadian provinces once possessed upper houses, but abolished them to adopt unicameral systems. Newfoundland had a Legislative Council prior to joining Canada, as did Ontario when it was Upper Canada. Manitoba had an upper chamber until it was abolished in 1876, New Brunswick's upper chamber was abolished in 1892, Prince Edward Island's upper chamber was abolished in 1893, Nova Scotia's upper chamber was abolished in 1928 and Québec's upper chamber was abolished in 1968.

Estonia

According to the 1938 Constitution, the Riigikogu had two chambers, which replaced the unicameral system. The lower chamber was called Riigivolikogu and the upper chamber was named Riiginõukogu. Both chambers were disbanded in 1940, following the Soviet occupation, and rigged elections for only the lower chamber Riigivolikogu were held. According to the 1992 Constitution of Estonia, the parliament is once again unicameral.

New Zealand

The (appointed) New Zealand Legislative Council was abolished in 1951.

United States

Federal

In addition to calls for the abolition of the electoral college for presidential elections, a smaller minority of political activists have called for the abolition of the United States Senate.

State-level

Nebraska is the only state in the United States to have a unicameral legislature, which it achieved when it abolished its lower house in 1934. During the governorship of Jesse Ventura in Minnesota, he called for the state to have a unicameral legislature.

Other countries

Croatia (2001), Denmark (1953), Greece (1935), Hungary, South Korea (1960), Peru (1992), Portugal (1910), Sweden (1970), Turkey (1980) and Venezuela (1999) once possessed upper houses but abolished them to adopt unicameral systems.