US elections explained

UK elections explained to non-Brits

from The Guardian

USA elections

Next Tuesday, the 8th of November is election day in the USA. This is the basic information to understand the whole process:

Introduction

In the USA there are two main parties. Every president since 1852 has been either a Republican or a Democrat.

This is a "single-member district" system. The candidate who is elected is the one who gets the highest number of votes in their respective state. Then presidents are elected indirectly. The voters are really voting for electors in each state.

In all states, the candidate who wins a plurality, receives all of that state's electoral votes. All together there are 538 electors (in the "Electoral College"). It is very important to win in populous states and certain states are known to be the key to presidency. To win the presidential election, a candidate must earn an absolute majority at least 270 of the 538 electoral votes cast nationwide.

Candidates

Donald Trump
image from Wikipedia

HIllary Clinton
image from Wikipedia

He/she must be a natural-born citizen of the United States, be at least 35 years of age, and have been a resident of the United States for 14 years.

Candidates in each party are usually chosen in primary elections within the year before the election. These can be closed and semiclosed (as in Arizona), open (as in Missouri) or blanket primaries (as in Louisiana).
The two candidates for this year's election are Hillary Clinton (Democrat) and Donald Trump (Republican).

Length of term

The president is in office for 4 years and can be reelected only once so he/she can be in office for 8 years.

Voters

Anyone who is 18 years of age can vote. There is no national list of eligible voters, so a citizen must first qualify by becoming registered. Citizens register to vote in conjunction with the place they live so if they move to a new location, they typically have to register again.

How is the president elected?

Voters don't choose the president directly. They vote for electors who are members of a party.

Dates

The election day is on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.  In December the 538 electors meet in each states’s capitol to formally elect the President.
The congress meets in joint session to count the electoral votes January 6 and the elected candidate will become president on the 20th of January.

Interesting links if you need more information:

• Elections in the USA
• List of USA presidents
• Declaration of Independence

Clinton vs. Trump

Usa elections 2016 from Ana Arias Castro

#TeamClinton vs. #TeamTrump #Election2016 from Empowered Presentations

What is Brexit?

WHAT IS IT?
The UK is going to hold a referendum to decide if they stay in the European Union or if they are the first country to leave it.

WHEN? 
The referendum will take place on the 23rd of June.
Polling stations will open between 7 a.m. and 10 p. m.
If they decide to leave, that process would probably take years.

PROS OF LEAVING THE EUROPEAN UNION

• The UK would stop paying the fee they pay to the EU every year.
• Taxing might change as EU taxing regulations would not apply.
• CAP (The Central Agricultural Policy) is said to be very expensive and not very effective.
• The EU is thought to have a lot of "useless" bureaucracy.
• In the EU there is free movement of people so the UK has little power controlling immigration and immigrants are supposed to benefit from and even abuse the British welfare system.

CONS OF LEAVING THE EUROPEAN UNION

• Free trade with the EU would be limited and about 50% of their trade takes place with the EU.
• If the UK keeps special agreements with the EU (as Norway does) they would still have to pay and their situation would not be very different from the one they have now.
• London is one of the most important financial centres and it might be affected.
• The EU is one of the largest world markets and access to it would resent.
• The EU has introduced legislation protecting workers: regulated working hours (limited to 48 a week),  paid parental leave and anti-discrimination laws.
• Many jobs depend of the current relation with the EU.
• Britons travelling to the EU would need their passports again.
• Most immigrants into the UK have a higher education level than Britons themselves.

FURTHER READING

• Video and activities for students
• Express.co.uk
• The Week
• Metro

USA elections: how it works

This presentation made by Reid will tell you how the American election system works and, more specifically, primary elections:

Usa elections from Ana Arias Castro

#TeamClinton vs. #TeamTrump #Election2016 from Empowered Presentations! Presentation Design Firm

British Government and elections in the UK

10 Downing Street - Official Residence of the Prime Minister

The British Government is the government of the United Kingdom. Its official name is Her Majesty's Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Government is led by the Prime Minister, who chooses the other Ministers. The Prime Minister and the other most powerful Ministers belong to a group known as the Cabinet, who are the most important decision makers in the Government. These ministers are all members of Parliament. Laws are made by MPs voting in Parliament, which is called 'legislative authority'. These laws make what is called primary legislation. The government is chosen by the people of the United Kingdom voting in an election and, at least every five years, the people can vote again. The monarch selects the Prime Minister as the leader of the party who is likely to get the most votes in Parliament.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron 

Under the British constitution, executive authority, the power to use the laws to take action, belongs to the monarch, but this power is used only by, or on the advice of, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet. Laws passed by Parliament are always agreed ("given assent") by the monarch. The monarch generally always does things suggested by the elected government. The Cabinet members advise the monarch as part of a group called Privy Council. They also use their power directly as leaders of the Government departments.

The British kind of government is sometimes called parliamentary government, and its parliament is known as the "Mother of all Parliaments".

There are separate governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, each responsible to their own local parliament. These parliaments have certain limits decided by the main parliament in Westminster. There is no separate English Parliament.

The Prime Minister now is David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, who was chosen by Queen Elizabeth II on 11 May 2010 after the UK General Election on 6 May 2010. The election did not have a simple and obvious winner, even though the Conservatives had the most votes, because they almost had the same number as the other main party, the Labour party. This is called a hung parliament. So a coalition government was formed on the 12th of May 2010 between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. This is when two or more parties decide to share control.

These are the results of the 2015 general election:

taken from the BBC news website

Read more about the 2015 elections at the BBC News website.

USA midterm elections

President Obama-picture from Wikipedia

• General elections in the USA take place every four years: 2008, 2012, 2016...
• They take place on a Tuesday between the 2nd and the 8th of November.
• Sometimes other elections also take place: federal, local, etc.
• In these elections:
• A New President and Vice President of the United States of America is elected for four years (a term) or he/she might be re-elected for a second term.
• The President is not elected directly but by an Electoral College. Voters choose these member of the Electoral College and these, in turn, vote for the President.
• Presidential candidates are selected by their respective party's national conventions in the summer of hte election year.
• The two main parties are the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.
• This year there have been midterm elections.
• In the middle of each term (2010, 2014...)  midterm eletions take place.
• In midterm elections voters choose:
• Members of the House of Representatives and  Senators
• Governors of 34 out of the 50 states
• In some states, officers to state legislatures are also chosen.

European Elections 2014

When is election day?

election dates (22-25 May 2014)

Between the 22-25 of May. In Spain the elections will be held on the 25th of May and the results will be announced on the evening of Sunday 25.

How many Members of the European Parliament (MEP) will be elected?
766 members that will represent 505 million citizens in 28 member states. 54 of these seats correspond to Spain.

Why are these elections important?
Because many major decisions are made in the European Parliament: how to deal with the crisis, plans for closer economic and political integration, etc. The president of the European Commision that will succeed José Manuel Durao Barroso will also be nominated taking into account the European election results.
The resulting political majority will shape European legislation over the next five years.

What is the Parliament's role?
Its MEP will frame laws that will affect the lives of European citizens, they will set the EU budget and it will oversight the other EU institutions.

Read more:

• http://www.elections2014.eu/en/press-kit/content/20131112PKH24411/html/Overview-of-Parliament-and-the-2014-elections
• http://www.elections2014.eu/en/top-stories/content/20140321TST39501/html/A-journey-through-Europe
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Parliament_election,_2014
• http://www.elections2014.eu/en/top-stories/content/20140428TST45332/html/The-importance-of-voting

CLIL Process of electing a Pope

Sistine chapel where cardinals vote

present-day Pope Francis I

These are the steps to be followed when electing a new Pope:

1. The Vatican organizes a conclave (=meeting) of cardinals that must begin 15-20 days after Benedict's XVI's resignation.
2. Cardinals who can vote (those under age 80) are called to the Vatican City and take an oath of secrecy.
3. There are currently 118 cardinals under age 80 who can vote, 67 of whom were appointed by Benedict.
4. Any baptized Roman Catholic male can be elected as pope, but only cardinals have been selected since 1378.
5. Two ballots (=voting sessions) are held each morning and two each afternoon in the Sistine Chapel. A two-thirds majority is required.
6. Ballots are burnt after each round. Black smoke means no decision; white smoke means that cardinals have chosen pope and he has accepted. Bells also signal the election of a pope to avoid confusion with the smoke colour.



former Pope Benedict XVI

7. The new pope is introduced  St. Peter's Square with the words "Habemus Papam!" (Latin for "We have a pope!") and he then imparts his first blessing.

summarized and adapted from  http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/190754891.html

More information about the process in the BBC website.

Obama has won the US elections

There is a good, easy to understand article in the BBC news website. Have a look.

picture from BBC news