Indirect election
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An indirect election or hierarchical voting,
Positions that are indirectly elected may be chosen by a permanent body (such as a parliament) or by a special body convened solely for that purpose (such as an electoral college).
In nearly all cases the body that
An election can be partially indirect, for example in the case of indirect single transferable voting, where only eliminated candidates select other candidates to transfer their vote share to.
Heads of state
A head of state is the official leader and representative of a country.[2] The head of state position can vary from ceremonial figurehead with limited power to powerful leader depending on the government structure and historical legacy of the country.[3] For instance, in some cases heads of state inherit the position through a monarchy whereas others are indirectly or directly elected such as presidents.[4] Several examples are included below.
United States
The
China
The Constitution of the People's Republic of China specifies a system of indirect democracy.[9] The National People's Congress elects the president, also known as the state chairman, who serves as head of state.[10] The power of the presidency is largely ceremonial, the vast majority of power stems from the president's position as leader of the Communist Party and head of the military.[11]
European Union
The president of the European Commission is nominated by the European Council and confirmed or denied by the directly elected European Parliament (see Elections to the European Parliament).[12]
Parliamentary systems
Republics with
Heads of government
A head of government is in charge of the daily business of government and overseeing central government institutions. In presidential systems the president is the head of government and head of state. In parliamentary systems the head of government is usually the leader of the party with the most seats in the legislature.[15] Several examples of heads of government who are chosen through indirect elections are summarized below.
Prime Minister
The most prominent position in parliamentary democracies is the prime ministership.[16]
Under the Westminster system, named after and typified by the parliament of the United Kingdom, a prime minister (or first minister, premier, or chief minister) is the person that can command the largest coalition of supporters in parliament. In almost all cases, the prime minister is the leader of a political party (or coalition) that has a majority in the parliament, or the lower house (such as the House of Commons), or in the situation that no one party has a majority then the largest party or a coalition of smaller parties may attempt to form a minority government. The prime minister is thus indirectly elected as political parties elect their own leader through internal democratic process, while the general public choose from amongst the local candidates of the various political parties or independents.[17]
The Westminster model continues to be used in a number of Commonwealth countries including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore and the United Kingdom.[18] Additionally many nations colonized by the British Empire inherited the Westminster model following their independence.[19]
In
Federal Chancellor
In Germany, the federal chancellor - the most powerful position on the federal level - is elected indirectly by the Bundestag, which in turn is elected by the population.[21] The federal president, the head of state, proposes candidates for the chancellor's office. Although this has never happened, the Bundestag may in theory also choose to elect another person into office, which the president has to accept.[22]
Appointment
Some countries have nonpartisan heads of government who are appointed by the president, such as the Prime Minister of Singapore.[23]
Upper houses
Members of the German Bundesrat are appointed (delegated) by the Landtag of the various states.
The Control Yuan of China, formerly a parliamentary chamber, was elected directly by its respective legislatures across the country: five from each province, two from each directly administered municipality, eight from Mongolia (by 1948 only the Inner Mongolian provinces were represented), eight from Tibet and eight from the overseas Chinese communities. As originally envisioned both the President and Vice President of the Control Yuan were to be elected by and from the members like the speaker of many other parliamentary bodies worldwide. The Control Yuan became a sole auditory body in Taiwan in 1993 after democratisation.
In
Members of the Indian
Members of the
In some cases, most officials, including most members of legislatures – national and subnational – may be regarded as elected indirectly, because they are preselected by political parties. This kind of system is typified by the United States, at both the federal and state levels. That is
Some examples of indirectly elected supranational legislatures include: the parliamentary assemblies of the
Indirect single transferable voting is used to elect some members of the Senate in Pakistan.[24]
See also
- List of democracy and elections-related topics
- Proxy voting
- Double direct election
- Liquid democracy
References
- ^ Tradeoffs in Hierarchical Voting Systems, Lucas Böttcher, Georgia Kernell
- ^ "Head of state". Cambridge Dictionary. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
- S2CID 154522953.
- JSTOR 27550663.
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- ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2023-04-10.
- ^ "The National Popular Vote, Explained". www.brennancenter.org. 21 April 2022. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
- ^ "中国人大网". www.npc.gov.cn. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
- ^ "A Path to 'True' Indirect Democracy in China". thediplomat.com. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
- ^ Ruwitch, John (March 10, 2023). "China's Xi Jinping, as expected, gets 5 more years as state president". NPR.org. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
- ^ "Elections and appointments - institutions | European Union". european-union.europa.eu. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
- ^ Sargentich, Thomas O. (1993). "The Presidential and Parliamentary Models of National Government". American University International Law Review. 8 (2/3): 579–592.
- ^ "Parliamentary System". Annenberg Classroom. 2017-08-04. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
- ^ "head of government". Oxford Reference. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
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- S2CID 147155846.
- ^ "The Westminster system". www.parliament.act.gov.au. 2020-01-10. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
- ISBN 978-0198793045. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
- ISSN 0140-2382.
- ^ "Germany – EU member country profile | European Union". european-union.europa.eu. Retrieved 2023-04-17.
- ^ "Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany". www.gesetze-im-internet.de.
- ^ "Political structure". country.eiu.com. Retrieved 2023-04-11.
- ^ Waqar, M. (2020). Gender Quotas and Political Dynasties: Explaining Women's Substantive Representation in Pakistan's National Assembly (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University)