The president is the head of state and his functions are mainly ceremonial, while the Prime Minister is the leader of the majority party. However, neither of them actually runs the country - that's why they are called Parliamentary Democracies.

1) Both have different functions. Depending on the constitution and sometimes also on personal constellations, one of them will have more power than the other. The prime minister is usually the one who is leading the government and runs the country. And the president could be the one to represent the country internationally. They are not always of the same party.

Real figureheads are more to be found in non democratic states.


2) For instance, in Russia, it has been said that Putin has more power as a Prime Minister than Dmitry Medvedev, the prime Minister, because Dmitry Medvedev more or less follows Putin's guidelines. As a President, Putin had also more power than the Prime Minister of that time.

Neither. The bankers and captains of industry are the true leaders of the countries. The others are merely public figureheads and scapegoats (puppets)for the uninformed masses.(sorry I was being cynical)