Electoral college

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This article is about electoral colleges in general. For other uses, see Electoral college (disambiguation).
Presidential Election Votes by State, 2012


Origins of electoral colleges[edit]

Early Germanic law stated that the German king led only with the support of his nobles. Thus, Pelayo needed to be elected by his Visigothic nobles before becoming king of Asturias, and so did Pepin the Short by Frankish nobles in order to become the first Carolingian king. While most other Germanic nations had developed a strictly hereditary system by the end of the first millennium, the Holy Roman Empire did not, and the King of the Romans, who would become Holy Roman Emperor or at least Emperor-elect, was selected by the college of prince-electors from the late Middle Ages until 1806 (the last election took place in 1792).




Modern electoral colleges[edit]

The breakdown of votes in the U.S. Electoral College after redistricting based on the 2010 census.

Countries with complex regional electorates may elect a head of state by means of an electoral college rather than a direct popular election. The United States is the only current example of an indirectly elected executive president,[citation needed] with an electoral college comprising electors representing the 50 states and the federal district. Each state has a number of electors equal to its Congressional representation (in both houses), with the non-state District of Columbia receiving three electors and other non-state territories having no electors.[1] The electors generally cast their votes for the winner of the popular vote in their respective states.[2] However, there are several states where this is not required by law. In the United States, 270 electoral votes are required to win the presidential election.[3]

Similar systems are used or have been used in other presidential elections around the world. The President of Finland was elected by an electoral college between 1919 and 1987.[citation needed] In Germany the members of the federal parliament together with an equal number of people elected from the state parliaments constitute the Federal Convention, that exists for the only purpose of electing the (non-executive) head of state.[4] Similarly, in India the members of the lower house of Parliament together with weighted votes from the state parliaments elect the head of state.[5] In Italy the presidential electoral college is composed of the members of both houses of Parliament and three members elected by each of the regional assemblies.[citation needed] During Brazil's military rule period, the president was elected by an electoral college comprising senators, deputies, state deputies, and lawmakers in the cities.[citation needed] Argentina had an electoral college established by its original 1853 constitution, which was used to elect its president during that country's periods of democracy.[6] The constitution was reformed in 1994 and the electoral college was replaced with a direct election by popular vote with runoff round.[citation needed] In France, the first presidential election of the French Fifth Republic was the only French presidential election where the winner was determined via an electoral college.[citation needed]

Other countries with electoral college systems include Burundi, Estonia,[7] India,[8] France (for the French Senate), and Italy. In Italy the Italian president is elected by an electoral college composed of members of both houses of Parliament and 58 person nominated by the regional councils. The Republic of Ireland (for Seanad Éireann), Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Pakistan, Trinidad and Tobago [9] and Vanuatu also have some form of electoral college system in effect. Within China, both Macau[10] and Hong Kong each have an Election Committee which functions as an electoral college for selecting the Chief Executive and formerly (in the case of Hong Kong) for selecting some of the seats of the Legislative Council.[citation needed]




External links[edit]


  1. ^ Black, Eric. "10 Reasons Why the Electoral College Is a Problem". The Blog. The Huffington Post. Retrieved 2015-07-29.