Sr. No.

Country 1 United States of America

Head of the State President

2 Cuba

President

3 Brazil

President

4 United Kingdom

Constituional Monarch

5 Switzerland

President

6 France

president

7 Germany

president

8 Russia

President

9 Japan

prime minister

10 Iran

Supreme Leader of Iran

11 Israel

President

12 South Afrcia

president

13 Australia

monarchy (Queen Elizabeth II)

14 China

President

15 India

President

Profile of the Country Population - More than 300 Million, 50 states. Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over the expansion of the institution of slavery and states' rights provoked the Civil War of the 1860s. The North's victory prevented a permanent split of the country and led to the end of legal slavery in the United States. By the 1870s, its national economy was the world's largest. The SpanishAmerican War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. It emerged from World War II as the first country with nuclear weapons and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union left the United States as the sole superpower. The country accounts for 41% of global military spending and is a leading economic, political, and cultural force in the world.

Population-11.2Million, Official language: Spanish, Officially the Republic of Cuba is an island country in the Caribbean. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. To the north of Cuba lies the United States (90 miles away) and the Bahamas, Mexico is to the west.Cuba has a 99.8% literacy rate,an infant death rate lower than some developed countries, and an average life expectancy of 77.64.

Brazil is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people. It is the only Portuguese-speaking country in the Americas.

The United Kingdom consists of four countries: England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. There are three devolved national administrations, each with varying powers based in Belfast, Cardiff and Edinburgh, the capitals of Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland respectively. Associated with the UK, but not constitutionally part of it, are three Crown Dependencies. The United Kingdom has fourteen overseas territories. These are remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in 1922, encompassed almost a quarter of the world's land surface and was the largest empire in history.

Population-7.8million, Landlocked country. in its full name the Swiss Confederation is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The Swiss Confederation has a long history of neutralityit has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815and did not join the United Nations until 2002.Switzerland comprises three main linguistic and cultural regions: German, French, and Italian, to which the Romansh-speaking valleys are added.

France officially the French Republic is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continentsand in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans.France has its main ideals expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The French Republic is defined as indivisible, secular, democratic and social by its constitution. France is one of the world's most developed countries,it possesses the world's fifth largest economy measured by GDP, the ninth-largest economy measured by purchasing power parity and is Europe's second largest economy by nominal GDP. France is the wealthiest European (and the world's 4th) nation[20] in aggregate household wealth. France enjoys a high standard of living as well as a high public education level, and has also one of the world's highest life expectancies. France has been listed as the world's "best overall health care" provider by the World Health Organization.

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. It has the world's fourth largest economy by nominal GDP and the fifth largest by purchasing power parity. It is the second largest exporter and third largest importer of goods. The country has developed a very high standard of living and a comprehensive system of social security. population-82million

Russia has the world's 11th largest economy by nominal GDP or the 6th largest by purchasing power parity, with the 5th largest nominal military budget. It is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. Russia is a great power and a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council population-142.9million

Japan is an archipelago of 6,852 islands. The four largest islands are Honsh, Hokkaid, Kysh and Shikoku, together accounting for ninety-seven percent of Japan's land area. Japan has the world's tenth-largest population, with over 127 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, which includes the de facto capital city of Tokyo and several surrounding prefectures, is the largest metropolitan area in the world, with over 30 million residents.A major economic power,Japan has the world's third-largest economy by nominal GDP and fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the world's fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer.

Iran officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is the 18th largest country in the world in terms of area at 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran has a population of around 79 million.It is a country of particular geopolitical significance owing to its location in the Middle East and central Eurasia. In 1953 Iran became an authoritarian regime, following a coup d'tat instigated by the UK and US. Growing dissent with foreign influence culminated during the Iranian Revolution which led to establishment of an Islamic republic on 1 April 1979.

The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic in the Middle East. Israel is defined as a Jewish and Democratic State in its Basic Laws and is the world's only Jewishmajority state.Israel is a developed country, an OECD member,and a representative democracy with a parliamentary system, proportional representation and universal suffrage.The economy, based on the nominal gross domestic product, was the 41stlargest in the world in 2010,with a very high standard of living, which is the highest in the Middle East.population-7.7million

South Africa is ranked as an upper-middle income economy by the World Bank, one of only four countries in Africa in this category (the others being Botswana, Gabon and Mauritius). It has the largest economy in Africa, and the 28thlargest in the world.About a quarter of the population is unemployed and lives on less than US $1.25 a day.

Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent as well as the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area. A highly developed country, Australia is the world's 13th-largest economy and has the world's fifth-highest per capita income. Australia's military expenditure is the world's 13th-largest. With the second-highest human development index globally.population-21million

Officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is the world's most-populous country with a population of over 1.3 billion. The East Asian state covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres (3.7 million square miles) in total area and is the world's second-largest country by land area,and the third- or fourth-largest in total area, depending on the definition of total area.Since the introduction of marketbased economic reforms in 1978, China has become the world's fastest-growing major economy.As of 2012, it is the world's second-largest economy, after the United States, by both nominal GDP and purchasing power parity (PPP), and is also the world's largest exporter and second-largest importer of goods.

seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world.

Constitutional System The United States is the world's oldest surviving federation. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, "in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law".The government is regulated by a system of checks and balances defined by the U.S. Constitution, which serves as the country's supreme legal document. In the American federalist system, citizens are usually subject to three levels of government, federal, state, and local; the local government's duties are commonly split between county and municipal governments.

Presidential System, The Constitution of 1976, which defined Cuba as a socialist republic, was replaced by the Constitution of 1992, which is guided by the ideas of Jos Mart, Marx, Engels and Lenin. The constitution describes the Communist Party of Cuba as the "leading force of society and of the state".

The Brazilian Federation is the "indissoluble union" of three distinct political entities: the States, the Municipalities and the Federal District. The Union, the states and the Federal District, and the municipalities, are the "spheres of government." The Federation is set on five fundamental principles: sovereignty, citizenship, dignity of human beings, the social values of labour and freedom of enterprise, and political pluralism. The classic tripartite branches of government (executive, legislative, and judicial under the checks and balances system), is formally established by the Constitution. The executive and legislative are organized independently in all three spheres of government, while the judiciary is organized only at the federal and state/Federal District spheres.

The United Kingdom is a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system, with its seat of government in the capital city of London. The United Kingdom has an uncodified constitution. TheConstitution of the United Kingdom thus consists mostly of a collection of disparate written sources, including statutes, judge-made case law and international treaties, together with constitutional conventions. As there is no technical difference between ordinary statutes and "constitutional law" theUK Parliament can perform "constitutional reform" simply by passing Acts of Parliament and thus has the political power to change or abolish almost any written or unwritten element of the constitution. However, no Parliament can pass laws that future Parliaments cannot change.

Presidential System: The Federal Constitution adopted in 1848 is the legal foundation of the modern federal state. It is among the oldest constitutions in the world. A new Constitution was adopted in 1999, but did not introduce notable changes to the federal structure. It outlines basic and political rights of individuals and citizen participation in public affairs, divides the powers between the Confederation and the cantons and defines federal jurisdiction and authority. There are three main governing bodies on the federal level. the bicameral parliament (legislative), the Federal Council (executive) and the Federal Court.

Presidential System

Presidential System

Presidential System According to the Constitution of Russia, the country is a federation and semipresidential republic, wherein the President is the head of state[87] and the Prime Minister is the head of government.

parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, where Prime Minister of Japan is the head of government.

Presidential System. The Leader of the Revolution is responsible for delineation and supervision of the general policies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.The Supreme Leader is Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces, controls the military intelligence and security operations; and has sole power to declare war or peace.The heads of the judiciary, state radio and television networks, the commanders of the police and military forces and six of the twelve members of the Guardian Council are appointed by the Supreme Leader.The Assembly of Experts elects and dismisses the Supreme Leader on the basis of qualifications and popular esteem.The Assembly of Experts is responsible for supervising the Supreme Leader in the performance of legal duties.

Israel operates under a parliamentary system as a democratic republic with universal suffrage.A member of parliament supported by a parliamentary majority becomes the prime ministerusually this is the chair of the largest party. The prime minister is the head of government and head of thecabinet.Israel is governed by a 120-member parliament, known as the Knesset. Membership of the Knesset is based on proportional representationof political parties,with a 2% electoral threshold, which in practice has resulted in coalition governments.

The Republic of South Africa is a constitutional democracy with a three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary, operating in a nearly unique system that combines aspects of parliamentary and presidential systems.

Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system which functions as a federal parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy. The federation comprises six states and several territories.

Single-party socialist republic. The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China.

India is a federation with a parliamentary system governed under the Constitution of India, which serves as the country's supreme legal document. It is a constitutional republic and representative democracy, in which "majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law". Federalism in India defines the power distribution between the federal government and the states. The government abides by constitutional checks and balances. The Constitution of India, which came into effect on 26 January 1950, states in its preamble that India is a sovereign, socialist, secular, democratic republic. India's form of government, traditionally described as "quasi-federal" with a strong centre and weak states, has grown increasingly federal since the late 1990s as a result of political, economic, and social changes

Government The Federal Govt. is comprised of three branches, Legislative: The bicameral Congress, made up of the Senate (100 members)and the House of Representatives (435), makes federal law, declares war, approves treaties, has the power of the purse, and has the power of impeachment, by which it can remove sitting members of the government. Executive: The president is the commander-in-chief of the military, can veto legislative bills before they become law, and appoints the members of the Cabinet (subject to Senate approval) and other officers, who administer and enforce federal laws and policies. Judicial: The Supreme Court and lower federal courts, whose judges are appointed by the president with Senate approval, interpret laws and overturn those they find unconstitutional.

The First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba is concurrently President of the Council of State (President of Cuba) and President of the Council of Ministers (sometimes referred to as Premier of Cuba). Members of both councils are elected by the National Assembly of People's Power. The President of Cuba, who is also elected by the Assembly, serves for five years and there is no limit to the number of terms of office.

The form of government is that of a democratic republic, with a presidential system. The president is both head of state and head of government of the Union and is elected for a four-year term, with the possibility of re-election for a second successive term.

Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state of the UK as well as of fifteen other independent Commonwealth countries. The monarch itself is symbolic rather than political, and only has "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage, and the right to warn". The cabinet is traditionally drawn from members of the Prime Minister's party in both legislative houses, and mostly from the House of Commons, to which they are responsible. Executive power is exercised by the prime minister and cabinet, all of whom are sworn into the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, and become Ministers of the Crown.

There are three main governing bodies on the federal level. the bicameral parliament (legislative), the Federal Council (executive) and theFederal Court (judicial). The Federal Council constitutes the federal government, directs the federal administration and serves as collective Head of State. It is a collegial body of seven members, elected for a four-year mandate by the Federal Assembly which also exercises oversight over the Council. The President of the Confederation is elected by the Assembly from among the seven members, traditionally in rotation and for a one-year term; the President chairs the government and assumes representative functions. However, the president is a primus inter pares with no additional powers, and remains the head of a department within the administration.

The French Republic is a unitary semi-presidential republic with strong democratic traditions. The constitution of the Fifth Republic was approved byreferendum on 28 September 1958. It greatly strengthened the authority of the executive in relation to parliament. The executive branch itself has two leaders: the President of the Republic,who is head of state and is elected directly by universal adult suffrage for a 5year term (formerly 7 years), and the Government, led by the president-appointed Prime Minister.

The Federal Republic of Germany is a federal parliamentary republic, based on representative democracy. The Chancellor is the head of government, while the President of Germany is the head of state, which is a ceremonial role with substantial reserve powers.Executive power is vested in the Federal Cabinet (Bundesregierung), and federal legislative power is vested in the Bundestag (the parliament of Germany) and the Bundesrat (the representative body of the Lnder, Germany's regional states).

The Government of the Russian Federation exercises executive power in the Russian Federation. The members of the government are the prime minister (Chairman of the Government), the deputy prime ministers, and the federal ministers.The prime minister is appointed by the president of the Russian Federation and confirmed by the State Duma. He or she succeeds to the presidency if the current president dies, is incapacitated, or resigns. Legislative power is vested in the two chambers of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, while the President and the government issue numerous legally binding by-laws.

Japan is a constitutional monarchy where the power of the Emperor is very limited. As a ceremonial figurehead, he is defined by the constitution as "the symbol of the state and of the unity of the people". Power is held chiefly by the Prime Minister of Japan and other elected members of the Diet, while sovereignty is vested in the Japanese people.The Prime Minister of Japan is the head of government and is appointed by the Emperor after being designated by the Diet from among its members. The Prime Minister is the head of the Cabinet and appoints and dismisses the Ministers of State.

After the Supreme Leader, the Constitution defines the President of Iran as the highest state authority.The President is elected by universal suffrage for a term of four years and can only be re-elected for one term.Presidential candidates must be approved by the Guardian Council prior to running.The President appoints and supervises the Council of Ministers, coordinates government decisions, and selects government policies to be placed before the legislature.Eight Vice-Presidents serve under the President, as well as a cabinet of twenty two ministers, who must all be approved by the legislature.

Israel operates under a parliamentary system as a democratic republic with universal suffrage.A member of parliament supported by a parliamentary majority becomes the prime ministerusually this is the chair of the largest party. The prime minister is the head of government and head of the cabinet. Israel is governed by a 120-member parliament, known as the Knesset. Membership of the Knesset is based on proportional representation of political parties,with a 2% electoral threshold, which in practice has resulted in coalition governments. Parliamentary elections are scheduled every four years, but unstable coalitions or a no-confidence vote by the Knesset can dissolve a government earlier. The Basic Laws of Israel function as an uncodified constitution. In 2003, the Knesset began to draft an official constitution based on these laws. The president of Israel is head of state, with limited and largely ceremonial duties.

South Africa is a parliamentary republic, although unlike most such republics the President is both head of stateand head of government, and depends for his tenure on the confidence of Parliament. The executive, legislature and judiciary are all subject to the supremacy of the Constitution, and the superior courts have the power to strike down executive actions and acts of Parliament if they are unconstitutional.After each parliamentary election, the National Assembly elects one of its members as President; hence the President serves a term of office the same as that of the Assembly, normally five years. No President may serve more than two terms in office. The President appoints a Deputy President and Ministers, who form the Cabinet. The President and the Cabinet may be removed by the National Assembly by a motion of no confidence.

Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a federal division of powers. It uses a parliamentary system of government with Queen Elizabeth II at its apex as the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen resides in the United Kingdom, and she is represented by her viceroys in Australia (the Governor-General at the federal level and by the Governors at the state level), who by convention act on the advice of her ministers. Supreme executive authority is vested by the Constitution of Australia in the sovereign, but the power to exercise it is conferred by the Constitution specifically to the Governor-General.

The primary organs of state power are the National People's Congress (NPC), the President, and the State Council. Members of the State Council include the Premier, a variable number of vice premiers (now four), five state councilors (protocol equal of vice premiers but with narrower portfolios), and 29 ministers and heads of State Council commissions. During the 1980s there was an attempt made to separate party and state functions, with the party deciding general policy and the state carrying it out. The attempt was abandoned in the 1990s with the result that the political leadership within the state are also the leaders of the party, thereby creating a single centralized locus of power. Under the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the NPC is the highest organ of state power in China. It meets annually for about 2 weeks to review and approve major new policy directions, laws, the budget, and major personnel changes. Most national legislation in China is adopted by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. Most initiatives are presented to the NPCSC for consideration by the State Council after previous endorsement by the Communist Party's Politburo Standing Committee. Although the NPC generally approves State Council policy and personnel recommendations, the NPC and its standing committee has increasingly asserted its role as the national legislature and has been able to force revisions in some laws.

The federal government comprises three branches: Executive: The President of India is the head of state and is elected indirectly by a national electoral college for a five-year term.The Prime Minister of India is the head of government and exercises most executive power.Appointed by the president,the prime minister is by convention supported by the party or political alliance holding the majority of seats in the lower house of parliament.The executive branch of the Indian government consists of the president, the vice-president, and the Council of Ministersthe cabinet being its executive committeeheaded by the prime minister. The prime minister and his council directly responsible to the lower house of the parliament. Legislative: The legislature of India is the bicameral parliament.It operates under a Westminster-style parliamentary system and comprises the upper house called the Rajya Sabha ("Council of States") and the lower called the Lok Sabha ("House of the People").The Rajya Sabha is a permanent body that has 245 members who serve in staggered six-year terms.Most are elected indirectly by the state and territorial legislatures in numbers proportional to their state's share of the national population.All but two of the Lok Sabha's 545 members are directly elected by popular vote; they represent individual constituencies via five-year terms.The remaining two members are nominated by the president from among the Anglo-Indian community, in case the president decides that they are not adequately represented. Judiciary: India has a unitary three-tier judiciary, consisting of

Party System Two Party : Democratic Party and Republican Party. For elective offices at most levels, state-administered primary elections choose the major party nominees for subsequent general elections. Since the general election of 1856, the major parties have been the Democratic Party, founded in 1824, and the Republican Party, founded in 1854. Since the Civil War, only one third-party presidential candidateformer president Theodore Roosevelt, running as a Progressive in 1912has won as much as 20% of the popular vote. Within American political culture, the Republican Party is considered centerright or conservative and the Democratic Party is considered center-left or liberal. The states of the Northeast and West Coast and some of the Great Lakes states, known as "blue states", are relatively liberal. The "red states" of the South and parts of the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains are relatively conservative.

No political party is permitted to nominate candidates or campaign on the island, though the Communist Party of Cuba has held six party congress meetings since 1975. In 2011, the party stated that there were 800,000 members, and representatives generally constitute at least half of the Councils of state and the National Assembly. The remaining positions are filled by candidates nominally without party affiliation. Other political parties campaign and raise finances internationally, while activity within Cuba by opposition groups is minimal and illegal.

Brazil has a multi-party system for most of its history. Voting is compulsory for the literate between 18 and 70 years old and optional for illiterates and those between 16 and 18 or beyond 70. Together with several smaller parties, four political parties stand out: Workers' Party (PT), Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB), and Democrats (DEM).

Multi-party system. Three Major Political parties- Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrats.

The Swiss government has been a coalition of the four major political parties since 1959, each party having a number of seats that roughly reflects its share of electorate and representation in the federal parliament. The classic distribution of 2 CVP/PDC, 2 SPS/PSS, 2 FDP/PRD and 1 SVP/UDC as it stood from 1959 to 2003 was known as the "magic formula". In the 2007 Federal Council elections the seven seats in the Federal Council were distributed as follows: 2 Social Democrats (SPS/PSS), 2 Liberal Democrats (FDP/PRD), 2 Swiss People's Party (SVP/UDC), 1 Christian Democrats (CVP/PDC).

French politics are characterised by two politically opposed groupings: one left-wing, centred around the French Socialist Party, and the other right-wing, centred previously around the Rassemblement pour la Rpublique (RPR) and now its successor the Union for a Popular Movement (UMP).The executive branch is currently composed mostly of the UMP.

There is a multi-party system. Since 1949, the party system has been dominated by the Christian Democratic Union and the Social Democratic Party of Germany with all chancellors hitherto being member of either party. However, the smaller liberal Free Democratic Party (which has had members in the Bundestag since 1949) and the Alliance '90/The Greens (which has controlled seats in parliament since 1983) have also played important roles

Russia has a multi-party system with one dominant party (United Russia). Presently there are four parties that make up the federal parliament, the State Duma: .United Russia . Communist Party of the Russian Federation .Liberal Democratic Party of Russia .A Just Russia

For many years Japan was a one party dominant state until 1993 with the Liberal Democratic Party as the ruling party. They lost office and then soon regained power. The 2009 elections handed the first non-LDP victory to the Democratic Party of Japan. Due to the majoritarian parallel voting system it is unlikely that Japan will develop a multi-party system, but there is speculation that after 2009, Japan will develop a two-party system.

After the banning of the last two Opposition parties in 1983, parties and candidates usually have operated in loose alignments within two main coalitions, the conservative (osool-garayan) and the reformist (eslah-talaban) both of them coming from the former single-party Islamic Republic Party. Since 2009, only the conservatives have been allowed to participate and prominent reformist parties have been banned and their members jailed.

multi party (Politics of Israel is dominated by Zionist parties. They traditionally fall into three camps, the first two being the largest: Labor Zionism (social democrat), Revisionist Zionism (conservative) and Religious Zionism. There are also several non-Zionist Orthodox religious parties, non-Zionist leftwing groups, as well as non-Zionist and anti-Zionist Israeli Arab parties.)

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, South African politics have been dominated by the African National Congress (ANC), which has been the dominant party with 6070% of the vote. The main challenger to the rule of the ANC is the Democratic Alliance. The National Party, which ruled from 1948 to 1994, renamed itself in 1997 to the New National Party, and chose to merge with the ANC in 2005. Other major political parties represented in Parliament are the Congress of the People, which split from the ANC and won 7.4% of the vote in 2009, and the Inkatha Freedom Party, which mainly represents Zulu voters and took 4.6% of the vote in the 2009 election.

There are two major political groups that usually form government, federally and in the states: the Australian Labor Party, and the Coalition which is a formal grouping of the Liberal Party and its minor partner, the National Party.Independent members and several minor partiesincluding the Greens and theAustralian Democratshave achieved representation in Australian parliaments, mostly in upper houses.

The People's Republic of China is a single-party state governed by the Communist Party of China.There are other political parties in China, referred to in China as democratic parties, which participate in the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). While universal franchise is guaranteed in principle by the Constitution, in practice the Communist Party of China maintains full control of the entire electoral process. In practice, only members of the Communist Party of China, eight allied parties (the "democratic parties"), and sympathetic independent candidates are ever elected in any election beyond the local village level.

A parliamentary republic with a multi-party system, it has five recognised national parties, including the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and more than 40 regional parties.

Electoral Process The House of Representatives has 435 voting members, each representing a congressional districtfor a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population every tenth year. As of the 2000 census, seven states have the minimum of one representative, while California, the most populous state, has fifty-three. The Senate has 100 members with each state having two senators, elected at-large to six-year terms; one third of Senate seats are up for election every other year. The president serves a four-year term and may be elected to the office no more than twice. The president is not elected by direct vote, but by an indirect electoral college system in which the determining votes are apportioned to the states and the District of Columbia.

Members of both councils are elected by the National Assembly of People's Power. The President of Cuba, who is also elected by the Assembly, serves for five years and there is no limit to the number of terms of office.

All members of the executive and legislative branches are directly elected.

For elections to the House of Commons, the UK is currently divided into 650 constituencies with each electing a single member of parliament by simple plurality. General elections are called by the monarch when the prime minister so advises. The Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 require that a new election must be called within five years of the previous general election.

The Swiss Parliament consists of two houses: the Council of States which has 46 representatives (two from each canton and one from each half-canton) who are elected under a system determined by each canton, and the National Council, which consists of 200 members who are elected under a system of proportional representation, depending on the population of each canton. Members of both houses serve for 4 years. When both houses are in joint session, they are known collectively as the Federal Assembly. Through referendums, citizens may challenge any law passed by parliament and through initiatives, introduce amendments to the federal constitution, thus making Switzerland a direct democracy.

France elects on its national level a head of state the president and a legislature. The president of France is directly elected by universal suffrage in two stages of voting. All parties take part in the first round, usually promoting their own candidates. However, presidential hopefuls are required to present 500 endorsements signed by elected officials in order to secure a place on the ballot. If no candidate obtains an absolute majority of all valid votes cast in the first round, then the top two candidates qualify for a runoff election, in which the candidate with the largest number of votes is elected to office for a term of five years. The Parliament (Parlement) has two chambers: .The National Assembly (Assemble Nationale) has 577 members, elected for a five-year term in single seatconstituencies directly by the citizens.The National Assembly is composed of 577 members elected every five years in single-member constituencies by the runoff voting system. Candidates who obtain both an absolute majority of valid votes cast and a vote total equal to at least one quarter of the registered electorate are elected in the first round. Otherwise, a runoff election is held among candidates polling a number of votes greater than or equal to one-eight (12.5%) of the electorate; if fewer than two candidates meet this requirement, the runoff is held between the top two candidates. In the second round, the candidate that obtains the largest number of votes is elected to office. .The Senate has 348 members, 328 of which are elected for six-year terms by an electoral college consisting of elected representatives from each dpartement, 8 of which are elected from other dependencies, and 12 of which are elected by the French Assembly of French Citizens Abroad

The Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) consists of a lower house, the Bundestag, whose members are directly elected by universal adult suffrage, and an upper house, the Bundesrat , composed of representatives appointed by the Lnder .The Bundestag is composed of 598 members elected for a four-year term of office.The composition of the Bundestag is determined by the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) system - also known as personalized proportional representation - which combines elements of the single-member constituency plurality system with PR. Under this system, the country is divided into a number of single-member constituencies (Wahlkreisen) equal to half the total amount of seats in the Bundestag. Each German casts two votes, namely a first vote (Erststimme) for a constituency candidate, and a second vote (Zweitstimme) for a party list. Party lists are closed, so electors may not choose individual candidates in or alter the order of such lists. Of the two votes, the second vote is the most important, since it is the one that determines the composition of the Bundestag.

On the federal level, Russia elects a president as head of state and a legislature, one of the two chambers of the Federal Assembly. The president is elected for, at most, two consecutive six-year terms by the people (raised from four years from December 2008).The Federal Assembly (Federalnoe Sobranie) has two chambers. The State Duma (Gosudarstvennaja Duma) has 450 members, elected for five-year terms (also four years up to December 2008), all of them by proportional representation.The Federation Council (Sovet Federatsii) is not directly elected; each of the 83 federal subjects of Russia sends 2 delegates to the Federal Council, for a total of 166 members.

The Japanese political system has three types of elections:general elections to the House of Representatives held every four years (unless the lower house is dissolved earlier), elections to the House of Councillors held every three years to choose one-half of its members, and local elections held every four years for offices in prefectures, cities, and villages. At national level,the Diet (Kokkai) has two chambers. The House of Representatives (Shugi-in) has 480 members, elected for a four year term, 300 members in single-seat constituencies and 180 members by proportional representation in 11 block districts. In this system, each voter votes twice, once for a candidate in the local constituency, and once for a party, each of which has a list of candidates for each block district. The local constituencies are decided by plurality, and the block seats are then handed out to the parties proportionally (by the D'Hondt method) to their share of the vote, who then appoint members from their lists. Often the parties assign the block seats to unsuccessful single-seat candidates. The House of Councillors (Sangi-in) has 242 members, elected for a six year term, 146 members in multi-seat constituencies (prefectures) and 96 by proportional representation on the national level. Half of the House of Councillors comes up for election every three years. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Senate was abolished and the Iranian legislature thus became unicameral. In the 1989 revision of the constitution, the National Consultative Assembly became the Islamic Consultative Assembly. The Iranian Parliament or People's House, is the national legislative body of Iran. The Parliament currently has 290 representatives, changed from the previous 272 seats since the 18 February 2000 election.

The parliament of the State of Israel, the Knesset, is composed of 120 members directly elected by universal adult suffrage for a four-year term of office. Knesset seats are filled by proportional representation (PR) in a single, countrywide electoral constituency. Political parties or alignments of two or more parties submit lists of candidates, and may form surplus vote agreements, that is combine their lists for the distribution of Knesset seats. The lists are closed, so voters may not choose individual candidates in or alter the order of such lists. Voters cast a ballot for a single list. Knesset seats are distributed on a nationwide basis among party lists that pass a qualifying threshold, originally equal to one percent of the vote, and subsequently raised to 1.5% (in 1992) and two percent (in 2006). The number of votes won by each qualifying list is divided by an electoral quota, calculated by dividing the total number of votes cast for qualifying lists by 120 (the number of Knesset seats), and the result of this division, disregarding fractions, is the initial number of seats obtained by each list. Any seats that remain unallocated after the application of the electoral quota are distributed among lists or combination of lists according to the largest average method

Elections in South Africa take place on national, provincial, and local levels. South Africa is a multi-party democracy with the African National Congress in power with a significant majority since 1994. A system of proportional representation, incorporating party lists, is in place which makes it possible for small parties to achieve representation in parliament. The parliament has two chambers, and elects the president. The National Assembly has 400 members, elected for a five year term. The National Council of Provinces has 90 members, elected for a five year term by the provincial parliaments. The National Assembly and Provincial Councils are elected when General Elections are held.

Australia is by far the most well established and best known example of Alternative Vote (AV) in action. The system was introduced by the Nationalist government in Australia in 1918 to replace the existing first-past-the-post (FPTP) system after it became clear that several aligned conservative candidates all standing in the same electorate could split their vote between them under first-past-the-post, thus handing victory to the less popular but more disciplined Labor Party forces. Its introduction was thus intimately related to the need to counter the possibilities of vote splitting and to encourage and reward collaboration or coalition arrangements between parties. This ability to aggregate aligned interests, rather than divide them, has long been a (largely unrecognised) feature of Australian electoral politics, but it has not been until relatively recently that the full potential of preference distribution as an instrument for influencing policy decisions has been made clear. The Chinese electoral system is hierarchical, whereby local People's Congresses are directly elected, and all higher levels of People's Congresses up to the National People's Congress are indirectly elected by the People's Congress of the level immediately below. Governors, mayors, and heads of counties, districts, townships and towns in turn elected by the respective local People's Congresses.[2] Presidents of people's courts and chief procurators of people's procuratorates are elected by the respective local People's Congresses above the county level.[2] The President and the State Council are elected by the National People's Congress. There have been some moves toward political liberalization, in that open contested elections are now held at the village and town levels, and that legislatures have shown some assertiveness from time to time. However, the Party retains effective control over government appointments: in the absence of meaningful opposition, the CPC wins by default most of the time.

The Parliament of India comprises the head of state the president of India and the two Houses which are the legislature. The President of India is elected for a five-year term by an electoral college consisting of members of federal and state legislatures. Parliament of India has two chambers. The House of the People (Lok Sabha) has 548 members, 543 members elected for a five-year term in single-seat constituencies and two members appointed to represent the Anglo-Indian community (as envisaged by the Constitution of India, as of now the members of Lok Sabha are 545, out of which 543 are elected for 5-year term and 2 members represent the Anglo-Indian community). The 550 members are elected under the plurality ('first past the post') electoral system. Council of States (Rajya Sabha) has 245 members, 233 members elected for a six-year term, with one-third retiring every two years. The members are indirectly elected, this being achieved by the votes of legislators in the state and union (federal) territories. The elected members are chosen under the system of proportional representation by means of the Single Transferable Vote. The twelve nominated members are usually an eclectic mix of eminent artists (including actors), scientists, jurists, sportspersons, businessmen and journalists and common people.

Remarks The Electoral College consists of the electors appointed by each state who formally elect the President and Vice President of the United States. Since 1964, there have been 538 electors in each presidential election.Article II, Section 1, Clause 2 of the Constitution specifies how many electors each state is entitled to have and that each state's legislature decides how its electors are to be chosen. U.S. territories are not represented in the Electoral College. The Electoral College is an example of an indirect election, as opposed to a direct election by United States citizens (such as for members of the United States House of Representatives). The voters of each state, and the District of Columbia, vote for electors to be the authorized constitutional participants in a presidential election. Electors are free to vote for anyone eligible to be President, but in practice pledge to vote for specific candidates and voters cast ballots for favored presidential and vice presidential candidates by voting for correspondingly pledged electors.

Single party regime since 1959 led by Fedel Castro and now by his brother Raul Castro.

Fifteen political parties are represented in Congress. It is common for politicians to switch parties, and thus the proportion of congressional seats held by particular parties changes regularly. The largest political parties are the Workers' Party (PT), Democrats (DEM), Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB-center), Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB), Progressive Party (PP), Brazilian Labor Party (PTB), Liberal Party (PL), Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), Popular Socialist Party (PPS), Democratic Labor Party (PDT), and the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB).[167]

The UK is a developed country and has the world's sixth-largest economy. It was the world's first industrialised country and the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The UK remains a great power with leading economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence. It is a recognised nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks third or fourth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946.

Swiss citizens are subject to three legal jurisdictions: the commune, canton and federal levels. The 1848 federal constitution defines a system of direct democracy (sometimes called half-direct or representative direct democracy since it is aided by the more commonplace institutions of a parliamentary democracy). The instruments of Swiss direct democracy at the federal level, known as civic rights (Volksrechte, droits civiques), include the right to submit a constitutional initiative and a referendum, both of which may overturn parliamentary decisions. By calling a federal referendum a group of citizens may challenge a law that has been passed by Parliament, if they can gather 50,000 signatures against the law within 100 days. If so, a national vote is scheduled where voters decide by a simple majority whether to accept or reject the law. Eight cantons together can also call a referendum on a federal law.

Under the runoff system, a simple majority in the first round does not guarantee victory in the second round: in 1974, 1981 and 1995, the winner of the first round of presidential balloting went down to defeat in the runoff election.

The constitutional and electoral arrangements in the Federal Republic of Germany have as their fundamental goal the safeguarding of democracy against a recurrence of totalitarianism, Nazi or otherwise. There were several reasons for which the Weimar Republic of 1919-33 succumbed to the right-wing extremism of Adolf Hitler: a lack of legitimacy among important sectors of German society, a flawed constitution, and finally an electoral law based upon a very extreme implementation of proportional representation (PR), which guaranteed parliamentary representation to even the smallest of political groups, and in turn produced highly fragmented legislatures in which it was very difficult to form stable coalitions.

Since the fall of the USSR, there have been five elections for the presidency and five for parliament. Since Vladimir Putin became President of Russia there has been increasing international criticism of the conduct of Russian elections. European institutions who observed the December 2007 legislative elections concluded that these were not fair elections. There is overwhelming influence of the president's office and the president on the campaign and abuse of administrative resources.

For many years Japan was a one party dominant state until 1993 with the Liberal Democratic Party as the ruling party. They lost office and then soon regained power. The 2009 elections handed the first non-LDP victory to the Democratic Party of Japan. Due to the majoritarian parallel voting system it is unlikely that Japan will develop a multi-party system, but there is speculation that after 2009, Japan will develop a two-party system

The politics of Iran take place in a framework of theocracy guided by an Islamis t ideology. The December 1979 constitution, and its 1989 amendment, define the political, economic, and social order of the Islamic Republic of Iran, declaring that Shi'a Islam of the Twelver school of thought is Iran's official religion.

Parliamentary elections are scheduled every four years, but unstable coalitions or a no-confidence vote by the Knesset can dissolve a government earlier.

Since the end of apartheid, South Africa's politics has been dominated by the African National Congress (ANC). The ANC is the ruling party in the national legislature, as well as in eight of the nine provinces, having received 65.9% of the vote during the 2009 general election and 62.9%[1] of the popular vote in the2011 municipal election. The main challenger to the ANC's rule is the Democratic Alliance, led by Helen Zille, which received 16.66% of the vote in the 2009 election and 24.1%[1] of the popular vote in the 2011 election.

The most recent federal election was held on 21 August 2010 and resulted in the first hung parliament in over 50 years. Gillard was able to form a minority Labor government with the support of independents.

The People's Republic of China, along with Vietnam, North Korea, Laos, and Cuba), is one of the five remaining Communist states in the world. but simple characterizations of China's political structure since the 1980s are no longer possible. The PRC government has been variously described as communist and socialist, but also as authoritarian, with heavy restrictions remaining in many areas, most notably on the Internet, the press, freedom of assembly, reproductive rights, and freedom of religion. Its current political/economic system has been termed by its leaders as "Socialism with Chinese characteristics".

electoral reforms undertaken The Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) of 2002, also known as "McCain-Feingold", after its sponsors, is the most recent major federal law on campaign finance, which revised some of the legal limits on expenditures set in 1974, and prohibited unregulated contributions (commonly referred to as "soft money") to national political parties.However, this act was weakened when in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, on Jan, 2010, the US Supreme court ruled that the McCain-Feingold Act of 2002, the US federal law that regulates the financing of political campaigns, was in violation of corporations' and unions' First Amendment rights. Under the January 2010 ruling, corporations and unions are no longer barred from promoting the election of one candidate over another candidate

no significant reforms were undertaken

Presidential elections in Brazil take place under a two-round majority run-off system, with candidates competing for votes throughout the countrys 8,511,965 sq km area. Following a constitutional amendment approved in June 1997, presidents are now allowed to run for re-election once. The rules governing legislative elections have remained essentially unchanged since they were first established in 1946.

The United Kingdom has generally used first-past-the-post (FPTP) for many years, but there have been several attempts at reform. However there has been no significant change in the voting pattern in the field of electoral reform. In the 2010 UK General Election campaign, the possibility of a hung parliament and the earlier expenses scandal pushed electoral reform up the agenda, something long supported by the Liberal Democrats. There were protests in favour of electoral reform organised by Take Back Parliament The Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government held a referendum on introducing AV for the Commons on 5 May 2011, which was defeated. Party leadership selection in the UK is a restricted system unlike US and Canada. Since 1997, the UK Conservative party has given its general membership the final vote between two candidates for party leadership. However, the two candidates are always selected by Conservative Members of Parliament (MPs), which allows leading party members to tightly control the There are no significant electoral reforms that have taken place. Problem: considering the size and history of Switzerland direct democracy is suited there. However, in countries like India it cannot be replicated on the same scale due to change in political realities here. In switzerland also they at times face problems due to the system of refrendum to change laws. For example, women franchise was introduced here as late as 1970s. it was passed by parliament much earlier but it took many years for the cantons to approve it.thus many a times people here resist change and it is not easy to introduce one.

-Originally, an electoral college chose the president indirectly, but a 1962 amendment to the constitution established the popular election of the president by runoff voting. -The president governs in tandem with the parliament, a weaker two-pronged legislative body comprising the Senate and the National Assembly. While the office of the president shares powers on issues of legislation, it enjoys a great deal of individual authority. Presidential power was greatly expanded after the development of France's nuclear deterrent in 1960. -A subsequent constitutional amendment in 2000 reduced the president's term of office from seven to five years. -France was the first country to legislate for gender parity in political life. The Act of 6 June 2000 promotes equal access for men and women to electoral mandates and elective offices. It was applied for the first time in the March 2001 municipal elections. The second provision adjusts the public subsidy paid to political parties to the gap between the number of men and the number of women fielded by each party in parliamentary elections, penalizing parties which do not field enough female candidates.

The founding fathers of the West German Basic Law (Constitution) recognised two substantial points. First, Political parties themselves must function democratically before they could be expected to run the system democratically. Second, blind trust in the free play of forces could prove disastrous. Since the begin functioning of political parties were in the minds of constitution makers of German Republic. The Constitution of West Germany, adopted on 23rd May, 1949, provided political parties first time a proper position and function. It says: a. The political parties shall participate in the forming of the political will of the people. They may be freely established. Their internal organization must conform to democratic principles. They must publicly account for the sources of their funds. b. Parties which seek to impair or abolish the free democratic basic order or endanger the existence of the Federal Republic of Germany shall be unconstitutional. The Federal Constitution Court shall decide on the question of constitutionality. Apart from the constitution, the law on political parties (Parteiengesetz) has now become one of the most important guidelines to policy formation. It comprises 41 articles under seven sections: a. Constitutional status and functions of the parties b. Internal organisation c. Nomination of the candidates for elections d. Principles and purview of election expenses e. Rendering of the accounts f. Implementation of the ban on unconstitutional parties g. Concluding provision on, for example, the introduction of tax relief for donation and party dues. The Law on Presidential Elections, ratified in May 1995 which set rigorous standards for fair campaign and election procedures, was hailed by international analysts as a major step toward democratization. Under the law, parties, blocs, and voters' groups register with the Central Electoral Commission of Russia (CEC) and designate their candidates. These organizations then are permitted to begin seeking the 1 million signatures needed to register their candidates; no more than 7 percent of the signatures may come from a single federal jurisdiction. The purpose of the 7 percent requirement is to promote candidacies with broad territorial bases and eliminate those supported by only one city or ethnic enclave.The Law on Presidential Elections requires that the winner receive more than 50 percent of the votes cast. If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote (a highly probable result because of multiple candidacies), the top two vote-getters must face each other in a runoff election. Once the results of the first round are known, the runoff election must be held within fifteen days. A traditional provision allows voters to check off "none of the above," meaning that a candidate in a two-person runoff might win without attaining a majority. Another provision of the election law empowers the CEC to request that the Supreme Court ban a candidate from the election if that candidate advocates a violent transformation of the constitutional order or the integrity of the Russian Federation.

Due to corruption, parochial politics and incentives for high campaign spending electoral reforms became a necessity in Japan. In 1994 Japan replaced its old electoral system, the single nontransferable vote (SNTV), with a new, mixed member system for the lower house of the Japanese Diet that combines plurality voting in single-member districts (for 300 seats) with regional, closed-list proportional representation (PR) for the remaining 200 seats.

During the period of Md. Khatami it was tried by some organisations. Their main agenda was for greater freedom. However no reforms suggested could take form of law.

The new electoral law includes two major provisions that are supposed to strengthen the Prime Minister in the process of forming a coalition following a general election. First and foremost, the Prime Minister is elected directly by the eligible voters. Voters enter two ballots in the poll. On the first ballot, they vote for the party of their choice and on the second they vote for their most preferred candidate for Prime Minister. Under the old electoral law, following the election, the President of Israel called all the newly elected Knesset members and consulted with them before asking one of them to try to form a coalition. In practice (with a single exception), the president asked the head of the largest party to attempt forming a coalition government. Under the new law, the Prime Ministerial candidate receiving more then fifty percent of the votes is popularly and directly elected. If no candidate receives more than fifty percent of the votes, a second round is held. To further strengthen the power of the Prime Minister and ensure the stability of coalition governments, the new law diminished considerably the potency of the long-standing parliamentary institution of vote of no confidence. Under the new law an absolute majority of Knesset members (61 members) is required to approve a vote of no confidence, compared to the old rule where a simple majority of the members present in the plenary was sufficient to pass such a vote. Most significantly, however, under the new law, if an absolute majority supports a vote of no confidence, not only is the government ruled out of power, but the Knesset is dissolved as well.

After the 1992 referendum, deciding to end apartheid, universal suffrage was implemented allowing people of all races to take part in the first democratic elections in 1994. Since 1994 all adult South Africans have in principle possessed the franchise and the right to vote is entrenched in the Constitution, however various logistical challenges still exist as is common with all democracies.

In the mid 1970s the High Court, for the first time, became the catalyst for major electoral reforms. In the landmark McKinlay and McKellar cases, the Court altered the basis of the drawing of the boundaries of House of Representatives electorates by making it clear that the constitutional requirement that States be represented in the House by numbers of members "in proportion to the respective numbers of their people" was a binding one, which the Parliament could not avoid implementing. The long term effect of these rulings has been a much greater frequency of redrawing of electoral boundaries in those States which have been affected by population flows. The most recent round of significant reforms came in 1983. The newly elected Labor government eschewed the confrontational style which had limited the success of its predecessor, and established a parliamentary committee, the Joint Select Committee on Electoral Reform (now the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters) which became the focal point for changes to the electoral system in the last decade. The Committee's work gave rise to such changes as the printing of party affiliations on ballot papers, the introduction of party financing laws, and the creation of the independent Australian Electoral Commission. The Commission has worked closely with the Committee to seek to maintain an effective implementation of the will of the Parliament in the electoral field. The Chinese National People's Congress (NPC) in 2010 approved an amendment to the electoral law mandating equal representation for rural and urban citizens. China's prior electoral law provided four times as many congressional representatives to residents of urban districts than residents of rural ones. This ratio was an improvement over the previous one that had been in place since 1953, which provided eight times as many representatives for urban districts over rural ones.

1. IN June 2002, the EC on the direction of the Supreme Court, issued an order under Article 324 that each candidate must submit an affidavit regarding the information of his/her criminal antecedents; assets (both movable and immovable) of self and those of spouses and dependents as well; and qualifications at the time of filing his/her nomination papers for election to the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies. 2.To eliminate the mushrooming of parties, the EC had to take some rigorous steps. The Commission now registers a party which has at least 100 registered electors as its members and is also charging a nominal processing fee of Rs 10,000 to cover the administration expenses which it will have to incur on correspondence with the parties after their registration. 3.The Commission has fixed legal limits on the amount of money which a candidate can spend during the election campaign. These limits have been revised from time to time. During 2004 elections, the ceiling limits for Lok Sabha seats varied between Rs 10,00,000 to Rs 25,00,000. For Assembly seats, the highest limit was Rs 10,00,000 and the lowest limit was Rs 5,00,000. The EC, by appointing expenditure observers keeps an eye on the individual accounts of election expenditure made by a candidate during election campaign. The contestants are also required to give details of expenditure within 30 days of the declaration of the election results. 4.9. In the realm of corporate financing, the Indian Companies Act prior to 1969 did not make any specific provision for donation by companies, but in 1969 a law was brought into force, banning any company contribution to the election arena. Later, Section 293, an amendment brought about in 1985, permitted companies to make contributions to charitable and other funds up to 5 per cent of their average profit of the three previous years. This amendment, brought in with the view of curbing the parallel practice of black marketing in the business-politics nexus (rampant in the era of briefcase politics), has in fact turned volte-face and has been replaced by a lack of transparency and nepotism.