Agencies
The global importance of the elections in the United States is greater this year, due to the “profound implications” that its results will have on the world economy, according to the analyzes of specialized sites, reflected or not by the international press.
This impact is proportional to the economic dimension of that country, whose democracy is one of the most solid and, also, framed in a unique system that excludes the direct election of the president.
Global impact
“Due to its economic and political influence, US decisions are of great importance. The eyes of world leaders are focused on the election of the next president,” notes the site of Hedegepoint Globalmarket, a “provider of risk management products, specialized in market intelligence.”
In this regard, for the Spanish think tank and laboratory of ideas Royal Elcano Institute of International and Strategic Studies Elcano, “the next presidential election in the US has profound implications for the world economy, especially in a context of trade tensions and changes in policies. fiscal and monetary. Both Harris and Trump present proposals that, although divergent in their approaches, seem doomed to continue the trend of growing public debt deficits and growing protectionism. While Trump is betting on more aggressive isolationism, Harris is leaning towards a more moderate policy, but both options pose considerable risks to international economic stability, especially for US allied countries, such as those in the EU.”
This is what the aforementioned Spanish study center points out in the analysis What can we expect from the United States elections on an economic level?, published on October 30 on its website: realinstitutoelcano.org.
The publication adds that “although the proposals of the two candidates are opposite, it is very possible that in practice the economic policies of the coming years will not be so different, nor so radical. Given the American system of checks and balances, who controls both the Senate and the House of Representatives is key when it comes to passing legislation. A ‘divided government’ (White House of one color and one or two of the chambers of another) requires complex management, but is not necessarily synonymous with paralysis.”
A “division” of this type is possible given that next Tuesday the Americans also elect their representatives (deputies) and a third of the members of the Senate.
Electoral system
In the United States, the election of the president does not result directly from the popular vote, that is to say that “when a citizen votes for his candidate for president, this person is really voting to instruct the elector of his state where his vote should be directed in the Electoral College. ”explains Wikipedia.
And what is the Electoral College? “It is a process, not a place,” states the government site archives.gov, which gives “public access to federal government archives that are in (their) hands and control.”
It was established “as a concession between the election of the president by a vote in Congress and the election of the president by the citizen popular vote,” he adds.
This process allows the triumph of a candidate who has not obtained the majority of popular votes and “includes: Selection of electors. Meeting of the electors who vote for the president and vice president. Count the votes of the electors by Congress,” indicates the usa.gov site.
