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An electoral college is a set of electors who are empowered as a deliberative body to elect someone to a particular office. Often these electors represent a different organization or entity with each organization or entity represented by a particular number of electors or with votes weighted in a particular way. Many times, though, the electors are simply important persons whose wisdom, it is hoped, would provide a better choice than a larger body.
Beginnings of electoral colleges
Electoral colleges are an ancient institution. Germanic law stated that the Germanic king led only with the support of his nobles. Thus Pelayo needed to be elected by his Visigothic nobles before becoming king of Asturias, and so did with the Frankish nobles in order to become the first Carolingian king. While most other Germanic nations went to a strictly hereditary system by the first millennium, the Holy Roman Empire could not, and the King of the Romans, who would become Holy Roman Emperor or at least Emperor-elect, was selected by the college of prince-electors from the late Middle Ages until 1806.
Christianity also used electoral colleges in ancient times, but not until late antiquity. Initially, the entire membership of a particular church, both the clergy and laity, elected the bishop or chief presbyter. However, due to various reasons, such as reducing the influence of the state in church matters or removing the laity's voice in the matter, the electing power moved to the clergy alone and then, in the case of the Western Church, to only a college of the canons of the cathedral church. In the Pope's case, the system of people and clergy was eventually replaced by a college of the important clergy of Rome, which eventually evolved into the College of Cardinals. Since 1059, it has had exclusive authority over papal elections.
Modern electoral colleges
Some nations with complex regional electorates elect a head of state by means of an electoral college rather than a direct popular election. The United States is the only current example of an indirectly-elected executive president using the United States Electoral College, made up of electors representing the 50 states and the federal district. Each state has a number of electors equivalent to its total Congressional representation, with the non-state District of Columbia receiving three electors. The electors generally cast their votes for the winner of the popular vote in their respective states, but are not required by law to do so.
Similar systems are used or have been used in other presidential elections around the world. For example, the President of Finland was elected by an electoral college between 1919 and 1987. The short-lived Confederate States of America provided for election of its president in virtually the same manner as set forth in the U.S. constitution. In Germany and India, the members of the lower house of Parliament together with an equal number of members from the state parliaments elect the President of the Republic, whilst in Italy the presidential electoral college is composed of the members of both houses of Parliament and three members elected by each of the regional assemblies.
Another type of electoral college is used by the British Labour Party to choose its leader. The college consists of three equally weighted sections: the votes of Labour MPs and MEPs; the votes of affiliated trade unions and socialist societies; and the votes of individual members of Constituency Labour Parties. During Brazil's military rule period, the president was elected by an electoral college constituting senators, deputies, state deputies and lawmakers in the cities.
Nations with Electoral College systems outside the United States include Estonia, France (for the Senate), Hong Kong, India, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Madagascar, Nepal, Pakistan, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Ecclesiastical electoral colleges abound in modern times, especially among Protestant and Eastern rite churches. In the Eastern rite churches, all the bishops of an autocephalous church elect successor bishops, thus serving as an electoral college for all the episcopal sees.
See also
"Electoral college"