Research students

ELECTION


I. Read the information below. Comment on the different types of elections.
In a parliamentary system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body. In this system, members of parliament are also elected to the executive branch.
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections. Usually, a by-election occurs when the incumbent president has resigned or died.
A primary election is an election that narrows the field of candidates before the general election. Primary elections are the means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election. Primaries are common in the United States, where their origins are traced to the progressive movement to take the power of candidate nomination away from party leaders and give it to the people.
In the case of closed primaries, only party members can vote. By contrast, in an open primary all voters may cast votes on a ballot of any party.
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal, usually a piece of legislation which has been passed into law by the local legislative body and signed by the executive official(s). A referendum may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official, or simply a specific government policy.
A recall election is a procedure by which voters can remove an elected official from office through a direct vote before his or her term has ended. Recalls, which are initiated when sufficient voters sign a petition, have a history dating back to the ancient Athenian democracy and are a feature of several contemporary constitutions.