How the President of USA is elected/ Election procedure of US President;-
Introduction: -
The U.S Constitution provides for the presidential form of Govt. the farmers of the U.S Constitution spent a lot of time in deciding upon the method of electing the president. After a good deal of discussion they adopted a plan of indirect election of the President by electoral college which is now embodied in Article II, sections 1, 2 and 3 of Constitution.
Qualifications for the President;-
The Constitution imposes three tests on a candidate the presidency.
a. Age;-
A candidate must not be less than 35 years of age.
b.Citizenship;-
A candidate must be natural born citizen of the U.S.A.
c. Residence;-
He has resided in the country for at least 14 years before his election
d.Member of congress;-
He is not a member of the congress.
Mode of Election;-
The mode of election of U.S President is the indirect on the constitution provided that the president should be elected by an electoral college consisting of as many presidential electors as is the number of members in both the House of the congress.
Stages of Presidential Election;-
In practice there are following stages of the election of U.S President.
a. Nomination of Presidential Candidates;-
The candidates are the presidency are nominated by the parties. Since 1832, the two major parties i.e the Democrats and the republicans have established the practice of choosing their representatives at national conventions.
b. Campaign;-
After the nominations of the Presidential Candidates and their subsequent election by their respective party conventions, nation-wide presidential campaign starts.
The parties set up national and states committees and open headquarters in two great cities.
Each party issues a campaign text-book which contains the party platform, the biographies of the candidates and other material required for propaganda purpose.
e. Nomination of Presidential Electors;-
The next stage is nomination of the presidential electors in the several states. These electors are important party leaders.
f. Election of Presidential Electors;-
The next stage in the Presidential election falls in November of the election year when presidential electors are to be elected. Section I of the Article II of the Constitution of U.S.A deals with the election of presidential electors (electoral college)
(1) Number of Presidential Electors;-
The electoral college consisting of as many presidential electors as is the number of members in both the House of the congress. At present there are to be 538 members in the electoral college as the House of representative and senate consist of 438 and 100 members respectively.
(2) Representation Made by Each State;-
Each state is to appoint as many electors as, it has senator and representatives in the congress.
(3) Method of Election;-
The method of election of Presidential electors has been left to be determined by the state legislature concerned. To begin with, they were elected by the state legislature, now they are elected by the people of the state concerned.
(4) Election of President by Electors;-
The Presidential electors meet in the capital of each state on the first Monday after the 2nd Wednesday in December and record their votes for the Presidential candidates.
(5) Voting;-
A certificate of election is then sent to the chairman of the senate by each state on 6th January, the congress meet in a joint Session, where votes are counted. The person securing an absolute majority of votes is declared elected. To secure absolute majority, a candidate must receive 270 of 538 votes.
Installation;-
After his election, the new president is installed into office on January 20 of the ensuring year by taking the oath of office.
Term of Office;-
The presidential term is four years and according to the 22nd amendment a president can stand for re-election only once.
Salary of President;-
The US president receives a salary of $ 200000.00 a year and extra $50000 for expenses, occupies an official resident and enjoy other privileges such as travel and official entertainment allowances.
Succession;-
If the office of president falls vacant due to his death, resignation, impeachment or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office the vice president succeeds to his office for the remaining period of his term.
Conclusion;-
In practice American president is directly elected by the people of America.
