1- INTRODUCTION:

The U.S. Constitution provides for the presidential form og Govt. the farmers
of the U.S. Constitution spent a lot of time in deciding upon the method of
electing the president. After a good deal of discussion they adopted a plan of
indirect election of the President by electoral college which is now embodied
in Article II, sections 1, 2 and 3 of the Constitution.
2- QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE PRESIDENT:
The Constitution imposes three tests on a candidate for the presidency.
(I) AGE:
A Candidate must not be less than 35 years of age
(II) CITIZENSHIP:
A Candidate must be natural born citizen of the U.S.A.
(III) RESIDENCE:
A Candidate must have resided fourteen years within the country however it
is not to be interpreted as a continuous and uninterrupted period of 14 years
preceding election.
3- MODE OF ELECTION:
The mode of election of U.S. President is the indirect one the constitution
provided that the president should be elected by an electoral college
consisting of as many presidential electors as is the number of members in
both the House of the congress.
4- STAGES OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION:
In pratice there are following stages of the election of U.S. President.
(I) NOMINTION OF PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES:
The candidates for the presidency are nominated by the parties. Since 1832,
the two major parties i.e. the Democrats and the republicans have
established the practive of choosing their representatives at national
conventions.
(II) COMPAIGN:
After the nomination of the Presidential Candidates and their subsequent
election by their respective party conventions, nation-wide presidential
compaign starts.

=> The parties set up national and states committees and open
headquarters in two great cities.
=> Each party issues a compaign text-book which contains the parth
platform, the biographies of the candidates and other material required for
propaganda purpose.
(III) NOMINATION OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS:
The next stage is nomination of the presidential electors in the several states.
These electors are important party leaders.
(IV) ELECTION OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS:
The next stage in the Presidential election falls in November of the election
year when presidential electors are to be elected. Section 1 of the Article II of
the Constitution of U.S.A. deals with the election of presidential electors
(electoral college)
(i) Number of Presidential Electors:
The electoral college consisting of as many presidential electors as is
the number of members in both the house of the congress. At present there
are to be 538 members in the electoral college as the House of
representative and senate consist of 438 and 100 members respectively.
(ii) Representation Made by EACH State:
Each State is to appoint as many electors as, it has senator and
representatives in the congress.
(iii) Method of Election:
The method of election of Presidential electiors has been left to be
determined by the state legislature concerned. To begin with, they were
elected by the state legislature. Now they are elected by the people of the
state concerned.
(iv) Election of President by Electors:
The presidential electors meet in the capital of each state on the first
Monday after the 2nd Wednesday in December and Record their votes for the
Presidential candidates.
(v) Voting:
A certificate of election is then sent to the chairman of the senate by
each state on 6th, January, the congress meet in a joint Session, where votes
are counted. The person securing an absolute majority of votes is declared

elected. To secure absolute majority, a candidate must receive 270 or 538

votes.
5- INSTALLATION:
After the election, the new president is installed into office on January 20 of
the ensuring year by taking the oath of office.
6- TERM OF OFFICE:
The presidential term is four years and according to the 22nd amendment a
president can stand for re-election only once.
7- REMUNERATION OF PRESIDENT:
The U.S. President receivers a salary of $ 200,000 a year and extra $ 50,000
for expenses, occupies and official resident and enjoy other privilege such as
travel and official entertainment allowances.
8- SUCCESSION:
The Article II, Section I, clause 5 of the constitution provides that if president
's office falls vacant due to his death resignation, impeachment or inability to
discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the vice-president
succeeds to his office for the remaining period of his term.
9- CONCLUSION:
To conclude, I can say that in pratice American president is directly elected by
the people the presidential election compaign begins a year and four months
before the election day, costing the country more then one billion dollars and
is perhaps the longest and most comlicated process.