2020 was a tough year for everybody, but especially for Americans. All eyes were on them because of the Presidential Elections, which are held every 4 years on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November. The USA electoral system is very complex and elaborate. Everything starts in January with the primaries, when the two main political parties, Democrats and Republicans, choose their candidates. They will be officially nominated as the Ticket (the presidential candidate and his running mate) only in August, during the Party Convention. Here they present their electoral programs to the media. From now on they will start a tour of the country with their team seeking votes, popularity and also endorsements from celebrities and politicians.
In the United States, the President is elected directly by the citizens that on the 3rd of November went to vote at the polls or sent their ballot by mail. In order for a candidate to win, he has to get more Electoral votes than the other candidate. These votes come from each State in different proportions based on their population. Some States have a tradition of voting for a certain party and others are the so called “Swing States”, which are uncertain States that usually decide who wins the elections. The candidate who gets more than half of the electoral votes wins. This means that someone can win by getting the highest number of votes from the states, but not necessarily from the biggest number of citizens. The winner is usually announced a couple of days later but he will officially enter the White House only on the 20th of January.
This year the candidates for the Democratic Party were Joe Biden and Kamala Harris whereas the Republicans presented the current ticket made up of President Donald Trump and Vicepresident Mike Pence.
Joe Biden is a politician known for his role as vice president during the Obama administration whereas Donald Trump is a businessman who was elected as President in 2016. However, their previous status doesn’t count because in the USA every citizen over 35 years old with a minimum of 14 years of residency is eligible for President.
From The Associated Press
The winners of 2020 Presidential Elections are Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The democratic ticket got 306 Electoral votes overcoming the 270 limit and defeating the republican one. Surprisingly, the Democrats not only got more electoral votes but they also won the popular vote with 81 million against 70 million. This victory was possible thanks to the Swing States that turned in favour of the Blue party, some of them are Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Sadly, many Trump supporters and Trump himself don’t accept the results and this led to many protests and also to the unprecedented assault on Capitol Hill on January 6th. This will cause problems and hard times for the Biden administration, the same administration that locked Washington DC for the safety of everybody during Biden’s oath as the 46th President of the United States.
Former President Donald Trump didn’t show up but his former Vicepresident Mike Pence was present at the ceremony.
Biden’s speech was full of good proposals for his new term about fighting all the challenges that the US is facing right now such as the pandemic, the climate emergency, a severe economic crisis and a divided country.
Iulia Chis, VD
