Free And Fair Elections Politics Essay

Free And Fair Elections administration EssayFree and fair elections and functioning electoral organisations argon the ethyl ether of democracy. Elections be used to ensure prevalent support and legitimacy for those who act upon governmental decisions.iAn electoral carcass is the set of cognitive processes that de stipulationine how governmental batchdidates argon choose to office. These procedures include the ballot structure, how citizens cast their takes, how those votes argon tallied, and how the winners are determined.iielectoral administrations are important in m each ways. First, they have significant political consequences. electoral systems shape the nature of partitionies and party systems, and they affect the behavior of politicians and the strategies of voters.iiiAdditionally, electoral systems have a strong effect on the bod of parties and thus on the nature of competition in the party system. Electoral systems excessively affect the ways parties are or ganized and how they function internally. In addition, electoral systems also reveal the preferences of politicians and shape politicians behavior.ivBrazil pdfAccordingly, thither are a small issuance of e body politics in the world that have very connatural electoral or voting systems but continue to have various amounts of political parties. These standardisedities and differences are best illustrated when comparing the coupled States and France. Despite similar electoral systems, France has numerous political parties while the fall in States has sole(prenominal) dickens major parties. It would be anticipated that France and the United States would contain a comparison in its electoral system based upon the in fixation that the original cut charter was inspired by the U.S. constitution.vEssentially, both states use a beginning(a) past the stomach, winner takes all style of electing their Presidents. The United States also uses a anomalous system called the Electoral College to select a President from procurable nominees.viThis paper will put throughk to analyze the similarities and differences between France and the United States electoral systems. Firstly, the party system will be compared secondly the electoral process itself, afterwards the heads of state, the question of reforms and finally the information provided will be summarized. troupe SystemThe structure of the party system in France is quite unique compared to other democracies. France has a multi-party system as opposed to the both-party system in the United States, and within those multiple parties, there is a capacious variety of internal organization.viiIt was in France that the distinction between left and recompense premier(prenominal) appeared and it is there that this distinction is of feature importance. However, the country has developed a multiple party system, so that the differences between left and right are far from clear. The parties have arranged themselves traditionally in the structure of the interior(a) Assembly, from the extreme left to the extreme right. The reason for the numerous amounts of political parties is for the just about part historical. Successive regimes have passed, leaving their defenders as political parties or factions.viiiTherefore, apiece party then(prenominal) can be identified with a preferred constitutional form and they each have their own particular ideology. France has g angiotensin converting enzyme through a succession of revolutions and regimes in which the new graze never succeeded in entirely eradicating the advocates of the old. The older doctrines and their defenders have found that the Cartesian tradition, which is a tendency to pursue theoretical distinctions to the end, has encouraged their survival.ixThe Third and tail Republics knew 2 electoral systems, both of which encouraged proliferation proportional histrionics which assures each tiny party of its share of representation and there fore does not admonish the voter from exercising a marginal differentiation in moulding his vote, and the case-by-case-member constituency system combined with the second ballot which encouraged a coevals of scenes, and therefore of parties, especially on the first round. This system of many parties needs produced political weakness and cabinet instability.xNow, in the Fifth commonwealth, (enacted in 1958), the electoral system in France depends on the size of the municipality. In municipalities with more than 3, euchre inhabitants, the first half of the place is allocated on the basis of absolute mass and the dHondt manner of proportional representation is used to distribute the second half of the seats between lists that received at least quint per cent of the votes. Municipalities with up to 3,500 inhabitants elect councils on the basis of absolute majority.xiIn contrast, the American system as previously stated, is based on a two-party system, thus far though third p arties exist. This results in clearly defined political lines in the United States, without the formal need for coalition-building often required to create a ruling majority in a parliamentary system.xiiOne chemical element contributing to the two-party system in the United States is the exclusive-member district system of electing Representatives. Single-member meaning means that whoever receives a plurality of the vote (that is, the greatest number of votes in any given voting district) is elected.xiiiMoreover, the Republican and Democratic parties are the two main political parties in the U.S. The Republicans and Democrats have dominated American politics since the 1860s, and every president since 1852 has been either a Republican or Democrat.xivDespite that fact, so-called third parties and independent candidates remain a part of American politics. Most third parties have tended to flourish for a single election and then die, fade, or be absorbed into one of the major parties. xvPresidential Electoral ProcessThe national election for the president of the United States is held every four years. These elections are far from straightforward in term of its organization. The procedure for a national election goes on for a year.xviA party mustiness present relieve oneselfd people to stand for election. Ofthose nominated, only one is selected by the party delegates at the national convention. This person then goes on to represent that party in the national presidential elections. The ladder mate for the presidential candidate is also announced. Moreover, the structure of primary elections can differ from state to state. Some delegates are elected in a straight first-past-the-post system while other states use a form of proportional representation to give a greater spread of representation among the delegates sent to a national convention.xviiThe delegates, when at a convention, vote for a candidate to run in the presidential election. After the national conv entions, the two parties presidential hopefuls can focus on campaigning for winning the presidential elections.xviiiA unique feature of the American system is the Electoral College. When Americans vote for a President and viciousness President, they actually vote for presidential electors, together as the Electoral College. The Constitution assigns each state a number of electors equal to the combined total of its Senate and House of Representatives delegations at present, the number of electors per state ranges from trey to 55, for a total of 538. It is these elector-candidates, rather than the presidential and vice presidential nominees, which the citizens vote for in the election. In closely states, voters cast a single vote for the slate of electors pledged to the party presidential and vice presidential candidates of their choice. The slate winning the most popular votes is elected this is known as the winner-take-all, or general ticket, system. Separate ballots are cast fo r President and Vice President. The electoral vote results are counted and declared at a posing of Congress. A majority of electoral votes (currently 270 of 538) is required to win.xixIn the recent American elections in 2008, Democratic candidate Barack Obama won the election with 53% of the popular vote along with 365 electoral votes over Republican candidate rear McCain.xxIn comparison, in the French system, candidates for the Presidency must obtain 500 sponsoring signatures of elected officials from at least 30 departments or overseas territories. The post is transferly elected in a two-stage voting system. A candidate who receives more than 50% of the vote in the first round is elected. However, if no candidate receives 50%, there is a second round which is a run-off between the two candidates who secured the most votes in the first round. Nicolas Sarkozy, from the ruling UMP, won the second round of the Presidential election in May 2007. He gained 53% of the vote, finishing six points ahead of his Socialist rival, Sgolne Royal.xxiDuties of the Head of StateThe constitution of the French Fifth Republic was okay by public referendum on September 28, 1958. It greatly strengthened the powers of the executive in relation to those of Parliament. Under this constitution, presidents were elected directly for a seven-year term since 1958. However, beginning in 2002, the presidential term of office was reduced to five years and a constitutional reform passed on July 21, 2008 which limits presidents to two in series(p) terms in office. The president names the set minister, presides over the cabinet, commands the build up forces, and concludes treaties. Traditionally, presidents under the Fifth Republic have tended to leave day-to-day political to the prime minister and government the five-year term of office is anticipate to compel presidents more accountable for the results of domestic policies.xxiiOn the contrary, the American presidents chief craft is to make sure that the laws are implemented. Presidents appoint all cabinet heads and most other high-ranking officials of the executive branch of the federal government. They also nominate all judges of the federal judiciary, including the members of the Supreme Court. Their appointments to executive and judicial posts must be approved by a majority of the Senate. The president is also the commander in chief of the US military and has unconstrained function to direct the movements of the navy, land and air forces. The president has the power to make treaties with alien governments, though the Senate must also approve such treaties by a two-thirds majority. Finally, the president has the power to approve or veto bills passed by Congress, though Congress can override the presidents veto by summoning a two-thirds majority in favour of the measure.xxiiiElectoral System Reform?With respectfulness to proposals by some American scholars and policy makers to get rid of the U. S. Electora l College system, most reformers advocate for a direct popular vote in the French manner and most also advocate a runoff (also like the French system) in the event that no candidate receives majority support (or or a lower figure such as 40%) in a first round election. But there are many Americans who believe that two presidential elections within a period of a few weeks would be too much.xxivMoreover, The French are starting to embrace the concept of having primaries like the Americans. Even though these are not yet systematically organized, they are helpful in select out the candidates of each political party. In 2006, for example, the Socialist Party fielded three candidates, and party activists chose one of them, Segolne Royal, to represent them. It is not that unlikely to see that same process expanded in future presidential elections.xxv proofWhile comparing United States government to French government there are many similarities and differences discovered. To reiterate, Fr ance and the United States citizens elect the president of the republic, and both democracies do it by universal suffrage. The French, on the other hand, prefer a direct election. In other words, a two-round electoral process in which any French citizen can become a candidate given that they adopt 500 signatures endorsing their candidacy. The Americans however have a different method. Every state chooses by popular vote a list of electors, each of whom represents one candidate. The list pledged to a candidate who wins a simple or absolute majority of votes takes all of the states Electoral College seats (essentially winner takes all).xxviThis trip the light fantastic election process takes into consideration both American demographics and political equation among the states of the Union, which is quite different from the French system.xxviiFrance is a representative democratic republic like the United States. France differs from the United States in political organization. The dif ference is that the political power in France is split between the president and a prime minister, who leads the political party that holds majority in Parliament.xxviiiIn addition, France is characterized by its multi-party system, whilst the United States is seen as a two-party system, even though third parties do exist. Also, Relations between France and the United States have become friendlier after Nicolas Sarkozy was elected President of France.In 2007, Sarkozy delivered a speech before the U.S. Congress which was a strong affirmation of French-American friendship. During his visit he met with President George W. Bush as well as Senators John McCain and Barack Obama. This visit took place before the two senators were chosen as party nominees.xxixBoth also met with Sarkozy in genus Paris after securing their respective nominations in 2008 after meeting Obama in July, he was quoted saying Obama? Cest mon copain which means Obama? Hes my buddy. Because of Obamas and Sarkozys rela tionship, relations between the two countries are expected to improve further.xxx