What is "minority leader"

alt. (context US federal politics English) In each of the legislative chambers of the United States Congress—the United States Senate and the House of Representatives—the elected member selected by the members of the political party with the second-largest number of elected members, who serves as principal spokesperson for the members of that party in that chamber and who plays a leading role in creating policy and strategy governing his or her party's business in that chamber. n. (context US federal politics English) In each of the legislative chambers of the United States Congress—the United States Senate and the House of Representatives—the elected member selected by the members of the political party with the second-largest number of elected members, who serves as principal spokesperson for the members of that party in that chamber and who plays a leading role in creating policy and strategy governing his or her party's business in that chamber.

n. leader of the minority party in a legislature

In U.S. politics, the minority leader is the floor leader of the second largest caucus in a legislative body. Given the two-party nature of the U.S. system, the minority leader is almost inevitably either a Republican or a Democrat. The position is essentially that of the Leader of the Opposition. In bicameral legislatures, the counterpart to the minority leader in the lower house is the Speaker, and the majority leader is hence only the second-most senior member of the majority caucus. Whereas in the upper house the titular Speaker is often a separately elected officer such as a lieutenant governor or vice president.

The minority leader is often assisted in his/her role by one or more whips, whose job is to enforce party discipline on votes deemed to be crucial by the party leadership and to ensure that members do not vote against the position of the party leaders. Some votes are deemed to be so crucial as to lead to punitive measures (such as demotion from choice committee assignments) for members who violate the party line; decisions such as these are often made by the minority leader in conjunction with other senior party leaders.

In a state where the executive branch and both houses of the state legislature are controlled by the other party, the minority leader of one of the houses (most often the upper one) may be seen as the most senior member of the party in that state with regard to state government (although inferior in rank to a United States Senator or United States Representative, if there be such in that party from that state).

At times, particularly during crucial legislation, the minority leader may be consulted by the opposite leader in order to more easily get things passed and ensure that provisions important to the interests the minority party be included. The level of partisanship in state legislative bodies varies greatly from one state to another.

The Minority Leader leads the largest political party not in government in the National Assembly of Cambodia. The Minority Leader acts as a dialogue partner of the Prime Minister. To become an official minority group, a party must secure at least 25% of the popular vote, and the party's leader shall become the Minority Leader.

The role was officially recognized by Parliament in November 2014, making Sam Rainsy the first official Minority Leader.

As in nearly every parliamentary democracy around the world, the Minority Leader comes from the political party with the largest number of seats in the Parliament yet is not in government. The Minority Leader is often seen as a Prime Minister-in-waiting.