For all of us in Malaysia, the US election process is in fact seems to be extremely complicated! Over and over again, there so many elections and run-up to the actual day where the presidents are chosen.
For Malaysia – its really easy, whereby the General Election is held, and the people would vote for their representative both for Dewan Rakyat (ADUN) and Dewan Negara (MP). Whichever party that have simple majority in Dewan Negara would technicaly given the mandate to run the country!
Anyway, back to US election – instead of a 1 step process, the whole action of electing the president is divided into 3 main processes. Namely:
- Primary and Caucuses
- National Convention
- General Election or Popular Election
- Electoral College
Primary and Caucuses
Anybody that fits to the requirements of being a US president would be able to nominate themselves to their party. Within this, each of the party (namely Republican and Democrats) will hold primary and caucuses – with an objective to allow the party members to choose their party representative. In relation to the 2008 election, Barack Obama has won the Democrats and John Mccain has won for the Republican.
National Convention
National Convention is an event where the party will finalise the selection of the Presidential Candidate – and also the candidate would need to nominate their running-mate (Vice President).
General Election or Popular Election
Usually held in November, the people will cast their vote to choose the Electors. Electors will then form Electoral College. The number of electors per state will vary depending on the representation in Congress.
Electoral College
This is the last and final stage before the president gets elected. Electors will elect their presidental candidate (usually in December). Any candidate which gets more than 270 votes will be declared the president of america…
