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Party conference

The terms party conference (UK English), political convention (US and Canadian English), and party congress usually refer to a general meeting of a political party. The conference is attended by certain delegates who represent the party membership. In most political parties, the party conference is the highest decision-making body of the organization, tasked with electing or nominating the party's leaders or leadership bodies, deciding party policy, and setting the party's platform and agendas.

This article is about general meetings of political parties. For other uses, see Party conference (disambiguation).

The definitions of all of these terms vary greatly, depending on the country and situation in which they are used. The term conference or caucus may also refer to the organization of all party members as a whole. The term political convention may also refer to international bilateral or multilateral meetings on state-level, like the convention of the Anglo-Russian Entente (1907).

— Chosen from within the body's membership to preside over its business.

Chairmanship

— Responsible for keeping minutes of the conference's proceedings.

Secretary

— Responsible for setting and maintaining review of current party policy, and preparing proposals for presentation to the full conference.

Policy committees

Within party conferences, there might be different offices or bodies fulfilling certain tasks, usually including:

convene a congress to elect a Central Committee, which in turn sets up a Politburo.

Communist parties

A Communist conference may also meet on occasion, to discuss a particular issue or plan an event, but would have no such official powers.

Political party

Lists of political parties

Party leader