How to highlight government or party in control of the legislature

Zoe Meers

2024-05-19

Highlighting governments or parties in control of legislative chamber

We can specify whether a party is a part of the government (or otherwise has control of the legislature if they hold a majority of seats) in our visualization by using geom_highlight_government(). geom_highlight_government() surrounds the circle with an outline.

115th Congress

us_congress <- election_data %>%
  filter(country == "USA" &
    year == 2016 &
    house == "Representatives")
head(us_congress)
#>   year country           house party_long party_short seats government  colour
#> 1 2016     USA Representatives Republican         GOP   241          1 #E81B23
#> 2 2016     USA Representatives Democratic         Dem   194          0 #3333FF

us_congress <- parliament_data(election_data = us_congress,
  type = "semicircle",
  parl_rows = 10,
  party_seats = us_congress$seats)
head(us_congress)
#>     year country           house party_long party_short seats government
#> 1   2016     USA Representatives Republican         GOP   241          1
#> 1.1 2016     USA Representatives Republican         GOP   241          1
#> 1.2 2016     USA Representatives Republican         GOP   241          1
#> 1.3 2016     USA Representatives Republican         GOP   241          1
#> 1.4 2016     USA Representatives Republican         GOP   241          1
#> 1.5 2016     USA Representatives Republican         GOP   241          1
#>      colour         x            y row    theta
#> 1   #E81B23 -2.000000 2.449294e-16  10 3.141593
#> 1.1 #E81B23 -1.888889 2.313222e-16   9 3.141593
#> 1.2 #E81B23 -1.777778 2.177150e-16   8 3.141593
#> 1.3 #E81B23 -1.666667 2.041078e-16   7 3.141593
#> 1.4 #E81B23 -1.555556 1.905006e-16   6 3.141593
#> 1.5 #E81B23 -1.444444 1.768934e-16   5 3.141593

us <- ggplot(us_congress, aes(x, y, colour = party_short)) +
  geom_parliament_seats() + 
  geom_highlight_government(government == 1) + #specify the variable you want to highlight here!
  theme_ggparliament() +
  labs(colour = NULL, 
       title = "United States Congress") +
  scale_colour_manual(values = us_congress$colour, 
                      limits = us_congress$party_short) 

us

Although the primary purpose is to highlight members of a governing coalition, this function is not limited to highlighting governments. If, for example, you wish to highlight the Australian government’s front branch, write

australia <- election_data %>%
  filter(country == "Australia" &
    house == "Representatives" &
    year == 2016) 

australia <- parliament_data(election_data = australia,
  party_seats = australia$seats,
  parl_rows = 4,
  type = "horseshoe")

au <- ggplot(australia, aes(x, y, colour = party_short)) +
  geom_parliament_seats() + 
  geom_highlight_government(row == 1 & government == 1) + # this highlights the front bench.
  theme_ggparliament() +
  labs(colour = NULL, 
       title = "Australian Parliament") +
  scale_colour_manual(values = australia$colour, 
                      limits = australia$party_short) + 
  theme(legend.position = 'bottom') 

au