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Parliamentary Debating is a form of debating where the content in ones words is far more important than the style of speech or eloquence.  Parliamentary Debate follows a strict format (structure) which has to be adhered to at all times.

It takes place between 2 teams of two or three people per team.

The teams are divided into two:

·         Proposition (Government)

·         Opposition (Opposition)

The Proposition consists of:

1.       Prime Minister

2.       Deputy Prime Minister

3.       Whip (if its three member)

The Opposition consists of:

1.       Leader of Opposition

2.       Deputy Leader of Opposition

3.       Whip (if its three member)

The Parliamentary Debate begins with a coin toss which decides which team is the Government and which team is the Opposition. Three motions are put forward, the opposition strikes out a motion which it feels is the least relevant to the overall theme that is given. The Proposition then strikes out the lesser relevant of the two motions and the motion that remains untouched is the motion that will be debated.

Both teams have some time to prepare (usually about 20-25min). The government gets to choose whether it will stay in the room and prepare or if it will prepare outside the room. Once the decision is made, nobody is allowed to stay with the government.

The motions are generally open ended and it is the onus of the government  (proposition) to define the motion and restrict it to certain parameters for the debate. For example: the motion will be, “This House believes that the dragon should cut a lion’s share of its fumes”. The government may define “this house” as the SAARC block or the United Nations or “four rational people” etc. The proposition then explains its definition of the motion such as, “ This house being the United Nations believes that China should accept binding emission cuts”. The proposition then goes on to state its constructive statements and may propose a model for its implementation.

The Opposition Speaker (Leader of Opposition) then comes forward. The opposition must accept the definition of the motion as laid down by the argument or challenge the definition on certain notions.

If the definition is accepted, the debate continues with the opposition finding flows in principle or model with the propositions arguments. The debate then goes on..

In case the opposition rejects the definition there emerges a case of definition challenge (refer powerpoint presentation).

This is just a very very brief overview of what is fast becoming the dominant style of debating all over Asia with its own debating championships, annual calendar events and lots of prize money.