DIRECT PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS - A WORLD SUMMARY

This paper first examines the frequency of direct presidential electio ns among the 170 countries of the world with a working, directly elect ed parliament. We find that there is a directly elected president in m ore than half of the countries and in about two-thirds of the republic s. Former British colonies are less likely to hold direct presidential elections, which are otherwise very popular in North and South Americ a and Africa. We then examine the kind of electoral formula that is us ed for the election of presidents. Most elections are held under the m ajority rule, most of the time under the majority runoff procedure. Th e majority rule is clearly predominant in Europe and Africa, and is un popular in North America, Finally, no relationship is observed between the level of economic development or of democracy and the use of dire ct presidential elections or the choice of an electoral formula. (C) 1 997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.