Wikipedia:Notability (people)/Subnational politicians

Drawing on WP:POLITICIAN, the following table lists the subnational parliaments whose members can be accorded presumed notability.

This page is intended as a reference tool and contains a selection of outcomes reached in deletion discussions as an appendix to WP:POLOUTCOMES. It may assist articles for deletion discussions, but does not surplant any Wikipedia policy or guideline.

Presumed notability and subnational politicians
The Wikipedia guideline WP:POLITICIAN has been consistently interpreted to accord presumed notability to members of subnational parliaments (legislatures) in federal nation-states. The significance of these subnational bodies relates to their law-making powers. This is in contrast to bodies, such as municipal councils, whose power is limited to administrative, supervisory or regulatory functions. Generally speaking, federal political systems devolve legislative powers to lower, subnational levels (such as a state or province), whereas unitary political systems do not, with legislative power concentrated at the national level.

However, there are countries with unitary political systems that include autonomous legislative bodies (ie bodies with primary law-making powers) due to unique historical circumstances or geographic necessity. Further, there are countries which are nominally unitary states, but operate akin to federal systems with subnational bodies granted substantive legislative power.

Members of local/municipal bodies or members of bodies without law-making powers have generally been denied presumed notability (see WP:POLOUTCOMES); that is, members of bodies only capable of enacting subordinate (secondary) legislation are not presumed notable under the criteria established in WP:POLITICIAN.

A member of a subnational body not accorded presumed notability may still reach notability thresholds through the general notability guidelines.

Note

The column titled "Federal polity" indicates whether the country operates a federal political system. The column titled "Subnational presumed notability" indicates whether there are subnational legislatures where presumed notability can be accorded to members of those bodies. Yellow shading indicates uncertainty.

★ Indicates an AfD discussion which relates to the status of the subnational jurisdiction, rather than membership in a parliamentary body. ▲ Indicates an AfD discussion relating to a subnational jurisdiction, where presumed notability does not apply. ♦ Indicates an AfD discussion relating to a subnational jurisdiction with no consensus. ‡ The Holy See and the State of Palestine hold non-member observer state status in the United Nations.

Former subnational legislatures
Formerly existing countries, such as the German Empire, British Raj or the Soviet Union, have had federal systems or devolved/autonomous parliaments. Similarly, some modern countries, like Indonesia, may have once had a federal system or devolved/autonomous parliaments but no longer do. Politicians of these former subnational entities fall under this provision of WP:NPOL, although there is likely less information available about these individual subjects further in the past.