JANUARY 2021 | LAW WISE 7
Nigeria, though some serve as president. Under the Fourth Republic which began in 1999, Nigeria has held five successful elections resulting in four peaceful transitions from one civilian government to another. 2015 marked the first time an incumbent candidate lost and turned over the government to an opposition party. Given Nigeria’s ethnic and religious diversity, a successful presidential candidate must not only win a majority of the national vote, but most also win 25 percent of the vote in at least two-thirds of Nigerian states. If these benchmarks are not achieved, the top two candidates participate in a runoff election. Though Nigeria experienced a long transition to democracy, recent elections demonstrate the possibility that Nigeria is on the path to political stability. Russia For the majority of the 20th century, the Soviet Union found itself led by an authoritarian dictator supported by the Communist Party. This system collapsed in 1991 and Boris Yeltsin replaced Mikhail Gorbachev as president of an independent Russia. In 1999, President Yeltsin appointed Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister. Since that time, Putin has served as either president or prime minister of Russia. Officially, Russia has a semi-presidential system. Since 2012, the Russian president serves a six-year term and cannot serve more than two consecutive terms. The president can also be impeached. Despite these formal constitutional measures, Vladimir Putin is the acknowledged and unchallenged leader of Russia. That is not likely to change for the foreseeable future.
United Kingdom Famous as the home of the Magna Carta, often cited as one of the first acknowledgements of the primacy of the law, even for rulers, when the United States declared independence in 1776, England’s form of government consisted of a constitutional monarchy with a king and a strong legislature known as Parliament. Today, the power of the monarchy is greatly diminished, and the Prime Minister is the true head of government in the U.K. From the end of World War II to the 1970s, the Conservative and Labour parties earned 90 percent of the popular vote. Since the mid 1970s, the Liberal Democratic Party and other parties have emerged. Today, the United Kingdom has what is known as a “two-and-a-half-party system” with the Conservative and Labour parties dominating national elections. In a general election, all 650 seats in the House of Commons are contested. The 2011 Fixed-term Parliamentary Act established five-year terms for elections. British voters decide which party should govern, and if one of the parties earns a majority of the seats in the House of Commons, that party forms a government, and its leader becomes prime minister. There are two mechanisms within British politics that allow for a change in leadership. First, a two-thirds or “supermajority” can vote to override the Fixed-term Parliamentary Act to call an early election. Secondly, Parliament or the Prime Minister can call for a vote of no-confidence. When this occurs, the cabinet can either resign or new elections can take place. In the past 100 years, only two British governments have been removed as a result of a vote of no-confidence.
TERRIFIC TECHNOLOGY FOR TEACHERS
Presidential Transitions Terrific Technology • Center for Presidential Transition https://presidentialtransition.org/
Sponsored by the Partnership for Public Service, this center is a nonpartisan resource serves as a resource for presidential candidates to help both new administrations and existing administrations entering a second term.
• GSA’s Role in Presidential Transitions https://www.gsa.gov/about-us/mission-and-background/gsas-role-in-presidential-transitions
A brief explanation of the role played by the General Services Administration in ascertaining the winner of a presidential election and the subsequent process for a presidential transition.
• Lawmakers seem to agree the Presidential Transition Act could use some work https://federalnewsnetwork.com/congress/2020/12/lawmakers-seem-to-agree-the-presidential-transition-act-coulduse-some-work/
An article from the Federal News Network highlighting some of the ambiguity of the PTA especially regarding the standards for the GSA to ascertain a winner of an election. www.ksbar.org/lawwise
