Electoral college
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about Electoral Colleges in general. For the U.S. system of electing the President, see United States Electoral College.
An electoral college is a set of electors who are empowered as a deliberative body to elect a candidate to a particular office. Often these electors represent a different organization or entity with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way. Many times, though, the electors are simply important persons whose wisdom, it is hoped, would provide a better choice than a larger body.
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[edit] Beginnings of electoral colleges
Electoral colleges are ancient institutions. 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 with the Frankish nobles in order to become the first Carolingian king. While most other Germanic nations went to a strictly hereditary system by the first millennium, the Holy Roman Empire could 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.
Christianity also used electoral colleges in ancient times, until late antiquity. Initially, the entire membership of a particular church, both the clergy and laity, elected the bishop or chief presbyter. However, due to various reasons, such as reducing the influence of the state in church matters or removing the laity's voice in the matter, the electing power moved to the clergy alone and then, in the case of the Western Church, to only a college of the canons of the cathedral church. In the Pope's case, the system of people and clergy was eventually replaced by a college of the important clergy of Rome, which eventually evolved into the College of Cardinals. Since 1059, it has had exclusive authority over papal elections.
Similar systems are used or have been used in other presidential elections around the world. For example, the President of Finland was elected by an electoral college between 1919 and 1987. The short-lived Confederate States of America provided for election of its president in virtually the same manner as set forth in the U.S. constitution. In Germany and India, the members of the lower house of Parliament together with an equal number of members from the state parliaments elect the President of the Republic, whilst 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.
Another type of Electoral College is used by the British Labour Party to choose its leader. The college consists of three equally weighted sections: the votes of Labour MPs and MEPs; the votes of affiliated trade unions and socialist societies; and the votes of individual members of Constituency Labour Parties. During Brazil's military rule period, the president was elected by an electoral college constituting senators, deputies, state deputies, and lawmakers in the cities.
States with electoral college systems outside the United States include Burundi, Estonia, India, France (for the Senate), Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Ecclesiastical electoral colleges abound in modern times, especially among Protestant and Eastern Rite Catholic Churches. In the Eastern rite churches, all the bishops of an autocephalous church elect successor bishops, thus serving as an electoral college for all the episcopal sees.
[edit] Electoral vs. Popular vote
There is an anomaly to the electoral college system that can result in a candidate winning the presidency by winning the majority of the electoral vote even if he fails to win the popular vote. Although rare, this controversial outcome has occurred on three occasions in U.S. history.
In 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes won 185 electoral votes to Samuel Tilden's 184, but Tilden won a majority of the popular vote with 4,300,590 cast in his favor versus 4,036,298 cast for Hayes.
In 1888, Benjamin Harrison won 233 electoral votes to Grover Cleveland's 168, with 5,439,853 popular votes for Harrison and 5,540,309 for Cleveland.
In 2000, George W. Bush won 271 electoral votes to Al Gore's 266, with 50,456,062 popular votes for Bush and 50,996,582 votes for Gore.
After this most recent occurrence in 2000, there were many calls for the elimination of the electoral college system in favor of a direct popular vote for the presidency. Such a reform would require a constitutional amendment, unless several states pass the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
[edit] See also
- This entry is related to, but not included in the elections and voting series. Other related articles can be found at the Politics Portal.
- United States Electoral College
- Prince-electorhistory
[edit] External links
- A Handbook of Electoral System Design from International IDEA
- Electoral Design Reference Materials from the ACE Project
- ACE Electoral Knowledge Network Expert site providing encyclopedia on Electoral Systems and Management, country by country data, a library of electoral materials, latest election news, the opportunity to submit questions to a network of electoral experts, and a forum to discuss all of the abovees:Colegio electoral
