10 countries with electoral college besides The US

For someone who is not familiar with the American political system, it may be confusing that Donald J. Trump was elected president of the United States in 2016, even though he received almost 2.9 million votes. Fewer than the eventual winner, Hillary Clinton. Anyway, Trump has taken over the White House. Did you know there are other countries with electoral college besides the US?

Popular vote does not guarantee a presidential win in the United States. This is because the presidential election is not determined by popular vote, but by a system called the Electoral College, in which each state receives a portion of the 535 electoral votes of the country, based on its population.

This means that an upstart candidate who wins by a large margin in some of the most populous states, as Clinton did, can still lose if an opponent wins enough states, even if they don’t have many voters.

Unlike, say, hip-hop music or cheeseburgers, the Electoral College is an American tradition that has yet to be copied by the rest of the world. That’s not to say that other states don’t have their own electoral college models.

At least 10 other countries do, but they don’t operate the same system as the US, and are sometimes used to elect lawmakers rather than executives.

countries with electoral college besides the US, according to the CIA World Factbook

Burma (a.k.a. Myanmar): This Asian country has a complex system in which the president elects three members of the Presidential Electoral College, which consists of members of the lower and upper houses of the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw, or Union Assembly, and the organization of the country. war. The meeting then elects the president, and the two winners become the vice president. However, the real power is the council of state, which is similar to the prime minister.

Burundi: This small country in East Africa uses an electoral system to elect representatives to its Inama Nkenguzamateka, or Senate. Thirty-six of the 43 members of parliament are elected indirectly from the collegium of regional councils using a three-round voting system. In the first two rounds, the candidate must have a two-thirds majority, while the final round is determined by simple numbers.

Estonia: The small former Soviet Union country on the Baltic Sea elects its president using a more complicated system than that of the United States. Estonia’s parliament votes for presidential candidates, but if none of them manages to get two-thirds of the vote after three rounds, a collegiate election consisting of both parliament and regionally elected officials choose between the two voters with the highest number of votes. of votes. If this does not make a clear winner, the decision is in the whole parliament.

India: The South Asian country elects its president and vice president indirectly through an electoral college made up of members of both houses of the Indian parliament. In the Indian system, the president is a ceremonial role like a king, since the company has no real power, according to this BBC report. The real power rests with the prime minister of the country.

Madagascar: This island country on the coast of East Africa relies on an electoral college of mayors, municipalities, regions and regions to elect 42 of the 63 members of the Chamber-Doholona, ​​or Senate. . Others are elected by the president of the country.

Nepal: In this mountainous Asian country, an electoral college made up of city leaders and local authorities elected 56 of the 59 members of its National Assembly.

Pakistan: The South Asian country’s president is an electoral college made up of members of the Senate, National Assembly and Regional Assemblies.

Trinidad and Tobago: The President of the Caribbean island is elected by an electoral college made up of members of the Senate and House of Representatives.

Vanuatu: An electoral college made up of parliament and the country’s six regional leaders has elected the president of the tiny South Pacific island.

Vatican City: The political head of a small European state is the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. The pope is elected, usually for life, by the college of cardinals, a group of worldwide church leaders appointed by the previous pope.

Also, some other countries – Botswana, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Nauru, South Africa and Suriname – allow their national assemblies to choose their leaders. But in 65 of the world’s 125 democracies, voters choose the president — or the directly equivalent office, according to the Pew Research Center.

There is a reason for this. George C. Edwards III, professor emeritus of political science, at Texas A&M University and author of the paper said: “The American electoral college has deviated from the basic principles of democracy. his will that it is not surprising that other democratic countries do not accept him.” A 2005 book, “Why the Electoral College is Bad for America,” says the email.