Introduction to Comparative Politics - Case Study Example

Introduction to comparative politics Introduction The world’s superpowers have set high standards when electing their presidential candidates; most countries in the developing world have adopted the same processes. The United States of America, France, Russia and China are examples of countries that elect their presidents through strictly laid down election processes. China and Russia have already conducted their 2012 presidential elections, and the Presidents have already taken their oaths of office. France is still having its presidential elections. The first round of their presidential elections has already ended. The runoff is going to be done soon to come up with a president elected by the majority. The US citizens will elect their president by the end of this year. This paper compares the election of Presidents in these four countries. Electing a US president The process of electing the United States president is provided in the US constitution. Three amendments on the constitution have changed the presidential election process. The introduction of additional processes in the constitution has improved the process of electing the US president (Nelson and Polsby, 2011, p. 73). The United States presidential elections take place after every four years during the first Tuesday of November. The presidential term lasts for four years, and the elected president stays in office for two terms. To be elected as a US president, a person must be 35years and over, must be a US citizen by birth and must have stayed for at least 14 years in the United States. Interested candidates announce their interest in running for the presidency of United States one year before the elections. Political parties in the United States have the mandate to choose their desired presidential candidate. Selecting a presidential candidate can be done either through delegate votes. The person who gets the majority votes from the delegates is declared the party’s presidential candidate (Kevin and Coleman, 2001, p. 75). Selection of delegates from different states involves either the use of primary elections or a caucus system. The selected delegates later go to the party’s national convention to elect their party’s presidential candidate. The Democratic and the Republican political parties have rules of nominating a presidential candidate. The interested presidential candidates have the role of choosing their running mates (Kevin and Coleman, 2001, p. 77). Proper selection of a running mate ensures that the candidate gets enough votes from the delegates. In the United States history, the running mate is viewed as an attack dog, which attacks the opponent. After the presidential candidate is nominated successfully at the conventions, national campaigns begin, and presidential candidates meet the US citizens and urge them to vote for them. Presidential debates are also held during the campaign period, and presidential candidates are asked questions live on the media (Kevin and Coleman, 2001, p. 82). Presidential candidates are voted in by US candidates who have attained the age of 18 years. The person voting must be a registered voter, should not be in prison and must be in excellent mental state. Elections may start 29 days earlier for people who will be absent during the Election Day. After the elections, the presidential winner is declared as the candidate with the majority of electoral votes. In the United States, a body called the Electoral College selects the president and the vice-president. It comprises of 538 elected representatives elected in their respective states by the US citizens. Each state produces electors who include Senators and Representatives and they form part of the United States Congress. The presidential candidate needs only 270 votes from members of the Congress to be declared the President. Therefore, the role of the US citizens is to elect group electors who have pledged to vote for their favorite candidate. Inauguration ceremony for the elected president and the vice-president is held on January 20th in Washington, D.C. (Nelson and Polsby, 2011, p. 117). Electing the French President French presidency can be regarded as the oldest in Europe. The office of the president in France is the most powerful office, and the president is on top of all other politicians. The French Constitution has undergone amendments through referendums. These amendments have changed the process of electing the president and the period the president stays in office. Before the 1962 referendum, the French president used to be elected through an electoral college. Today, the president is elected directly by universal suffrage through a two stage voting process (Hirschfield, 2009, p. 67). The period the president stays in office underwent changes through a referendum conducted in 2000 which saw the reduction of the term from 7 to 5 years. The elected president can only run the office of the president for two terms. The French Constitution requires that for one to be considered as an official presidential candidate, interested persons must gather nominations from more than 500 officials elected in various posts such as mayors. It is also a requirement that, the signing officials to come from at least 30 departments and not more than 10% of them from the same department. The officials can only nominate one candidate. Statistics show that France has about 45,000 of such elected officials, 36,000 of them comprise mayors (Hirschfield, 2009, p. 71). After securing a chance on the ballot box, the first round of the voting process is carried out: all parties participate in this process to promote their candidate. In case the candidates fail to obtain an absolute majority of votes that are cast during the first round of voting, the leading two candidates go for a runoff election. During the runoff elections, the candidate who gathers the largest number of votes is declared to be the elected to run office for a period of five years (Knapp and Wright, 2006, p. 172). Gaining the majority of votes in the first round of voting does not guarantee that the candidate will win in the second round of voting. In France, campaigns are highly regulated and particularly in spending and financing (Hirschfield, 2009, p. 75). A candidate who gets a score of 5% spends about 20 million Euros. For a candidate who gets less than 5% of the votes, he or she receives about 800,000 Euros from the government. Candidates should not do any advertisement on televisions, but official time is usually set aside for candidates to sell their policies on public television. French presidential elections take place through a purely runoff process – this ensures that the president gets into office through a majority of votes. The elected president goes through a swearing in ceremony referred to as “passation des pouvoirs” and takes office for five years (Knapp and Wright, 2006, p. 174). Electing the Russian President A person who has attained 35 years and above and has been a Russian candidate for more than 10 years and does not have another country’s citizenship is eligible to run for the presidency in Russia. Political parties can only nominate their presidential candidates only if registered by the registrar of political parties on the date the Election Day is announced. For parties to be lawfully registered, the Russian Constitution requires that all parties should have a minimum of 50,000 members. Parties should also have national branches with a minimum of 500 members in over 50% of the 83 regions present in Russia and over 250 members in the remainder of the regions (Nichols, 2001, p. 42). Over time, these requirements have changed considerably. In 2011, the minimum number of party members was 45,000 national branches with a minimum of 450 members in over 50% of the regions in Russia and a minimum of 200 party members in the remaining regions. In 2012, these figures have changed to 40,000 for minimum party members, 400 for minimum branch members in over 50% of regions in Russia and 150 for minimum branch members in the remaining regions (Nichols, 2001, p. 44). A Constitutional amendment done in December 2008 increased the presidential term from four to six years – this will take effect in the coming elections. The federation council has the mandate to call for elections. The elected president is not allowed to run for more than two consecutive terms. In order to be declared as a winner in the presidential elections, the candidate must emerge with the absolute majority of the total valid votes. In the case where there is no candidate who emerges with the majority votes during the first round of vote casting, a run-off election is mandatory after three weeks. Candidates who participate in the runoff election are the two leading candidates in the first round of elections. The presidential winner is declared as the candidate with the majority of the votes cast after the runoff election. The president later takes the oath of office which is followed later by handing over of the insignia (Nichols, 2001, p. 38). The insignia are devises that are handed over to the president and are meant to display the rank of his office. The president uses them only in exceptional occasions. The process through which the Russian president is elected differs from how the US president is elected in a number of ways. Russian presidential candidates do not have running mates – they are directly elected by Russian citizens. Many political parties participate in presidential elections. A runoff system is used to elect the president unlike the US which uses the Electoral College. The way presidential elections are conducted in Russia is remarkably similar to that of France. The only main difference is that French presidential candidates require signed nominations from elected officials and their campaigns are highly regulated (Nelson and Polsby, 2011, p. 187). Electing the Chinese president The process of electing the Chinese president is carried out by the National People’s Congress. China is among the highly populated countries in the world, and the process of direct elections for its top leaders may be a difficult process. A series of processes is adopted in electing the top leaders. The process begins by electing congress representatives through a direct voting process. The people of China elect their preferred local and village leaders: elections at this level are conducted by the local election committees. The election of the village and local people’s congresses takes place at this level (Gries, 2010, p. 132). People elected at the village and local levels go ahead to elect representatives in the provincial people’s congresses. China has 23 provinces which produce members to the National People’s Congress. The National People’s Congress is comprised of about 3,000 delegates elected by provincial congresses, four municipalities, armed forces, five autonomous regions, and specific administrative regions in Hong Kong and Macao. Apart from electing the president, the National People’s Congress also elects the vice-president and other top leaders in the Chinese government (Gries, 2010, p. 133). In China, presidency is regarded as a ceremonial post that forms part of the state organs under NPC. The president is the head of the state; his office came into place through a constitutional amendment of 1982. The National People’s Congress has the powers to elect and push for the resignation of the president if it finds any incompetence. For a person to be elected as a president by the National People’s Congress, he must be 45 years or older and be a Chinese citizen. The president serves the people of China for a period of two consecutive terms of five years each (Gries, 2010, p. 133). Unlike many other world presidents, the Chinese president is a powerless president since the National People’s Congress performs the key roles performed by most presidents. Most of the duties performed by the president are assigned by members of the National People’s Congress after they have made their decisions. The president acts as the National People’s Congress mouth piece and only talks of decisions made by the NPC. The vice-president can only assume office in the event where the president dies or leaves office. When the president and vice-president are not in a position to carry out their duties, the chairman of NCP takes over their duties until new leaders are elected by the NCP (Gries, 2010, p. 135). Reference List Read More