{{Party politics A party spokesperson (also known as party spokesman or party spokeswoman) is any member of a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

(at any regional level of the party structure) who is charged by the leaders of the party with communicating the party's position on specific portfolios. Party spokespersons largely feature in political parties of

parliamentary systems A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

. Party spokespersons can also be assisted in their duties by deputy or assistant spokespersons in the same portfolio. In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, non-government party spokespersons are known as party critics and deputy party critics, respectively.

Parliamentary party spokespersons

Spokespersons of a ruling party are coterminous with their roles as

ministers Minister may refer to: * Minister (Christianity), a Christian cleric ** Minister (Catholic Church) * Minister (government), a member of government who heads a ministry (government department) ** Minister without portfolio, a member of governme ...

in the government cabinet, and spokespersons of the leading

opposition party Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''t ...

(usually in Westminster system parliaments, where they're called the "Official Opposition") are coterminous with their roles as shadow ministers in the shadow cabinet; both are usually called "

frontbencher In many parliaments and other similar assemblies, seating is typically arranged in banks or rows, with each political party or caucus grouped together. The spokespeople for each group will often sit at the front of their group, and are then kn ...

s". A minor parliamentary/legislative party (be it in or out of coalition with a government cabinet or official opposition shadow cabinet) may have its own set of spokespersons and respective portfolios, although they are often considered during parliamentary debates with lesser courtesy than the government or official opposition's cabinets; in Ireland, for example, all parliamentary parties with at least 7 elected members have their own front benches, while those with less than 7 elected members must agree with other independent MPs to form a

technical group In politics, a technical group or mixed group is a heterogenous parliamentary group composed of elected officials from political parties of differing ideologies (or independent of any party) who are not numerous enough to form groups on their own. ...

in order to gain speaking rights.

Non-parliamentary party spokespersons

Non-parliamentary parties or parties with very few elected parliament members (that is, not enough to effectively spread policy communication duties) may also have their own non-parliamentary spokespersons and respective portfolios, despite not possessing speaking rights in parliament (or sometimes, as in

extra-parliamentary opposition An extra-parliamentary opposition is a political movement opposed to a ruling government or political party that chooses not to engage in elections. Many social movements could be categorized as an extra-parliamentary opposition. Europe The Ger ...

, abstaining from seeking office). They are more likely to speak for the party to media outlets or other organizations. Organizational structure of political parties Political occupations