American Political System
In the United States, the political system has democratic republican bases and is organized as a Federation, that is, the 50 states of the nation have political autonomy, despite being under the yoke of a central power:the Union. This system was conceived in the years following Independence das Thirteen Colonies, that gave birth to the country. All these colonies were already autonomous at the time, in terms of social and economic organization, they only depended on the English Crown. With the independence process, the federative republican model was the one that most adjusted to their reality.
The highest political office of this model is the President of the Republic , which brings together the functions of Head of Government and head of state . But how is the president elected? That's what we'll see next.
Structure of the US Presidential Election
In the United States, the election process for President of the Republic is not like in Brazil, where the millions of eligible voters (who are obliged to vote) go to the polls and vote directly on the candidate of your choice. In contrast, in the US, the vote is indirect, and the election is divided into two phases:the previous , or primaries , and the College Electoral .
Application of candidates and primaries
The US presidential election process begins in the spring, when candidates register their candidacy with the Federal Election Commission (FEC ) - “Federal Election Commission”. Candidates are usually linked to one of the two parties that dominate the US political scene:the Party Republican , whose symbol is an elephant, and the Party Democrat , which has the donkey as its symbol.
After registration, candidates enter the contest within the party. The vast majority of voters in their district vote to elect “delegates” (delegates ) who will represent them at the Convention National , in order to define which candidate goes to the second phase. Currently, the Republican Party has about 2,470 delegates, and the Democratic Party has 3,630. From the election at the Convention, only one candidate from each party goes to the second phase, in the Electoral College.
Electoral College Voting
After the primaries at the National Convention, the two candidates from each party must win the votes of other delegates, called electors , whose number is much smaller than the number of delegates . In all, the US has 538 electors, which are the sum of all federal deputies and all senators, that is, for each member of the Legislative Power, there is an elector . The American state with the most electors , being, therefore, one of the most disputed, is the one of California, which has 55 in total. This election is always held on the Tuesday after the first Monday of November. The inauguration of the elected president and vice president takes place on January 20.