4.1 Who can become a president in the usa?

Article II, of the Constitution sets the qualifications one must meet to be eligible to the office of president. A president must:

• be a natural born citizen of the United States;

• be 35 years old;

• have been a permanent resident in the United States for at least 14 years.

A person who meets the above qualifications is still disqualified from holding the office of president under any of the following conditions:

• Under the 22 Amendment, no person can be elected president more than twice.

• Under Article I, upon conviction in impeachment cases, the Senate can disqualify convicted-осужденных individuals from holding other federal offices, including the presidency.

• Under the 14 Amendment, the Constitution prohibits a person from becoming president who swore an oath to support the Constitution and later rebelled against the United States. However, the Congress, by a two-thirds vote of each house, can remove the disqualification.

4.2 What is the Electoral College?

Voters (in the general election) in each state actually cast a vote for a block of electors who are pledged to vote for a particular candidate. These electors, in turn, vote for the presidential candidate. Each state is apportioned a number of electors equal to the total number of their Congressional delegation.

In December (following the general election), the electors cast their votes. When the votes are counted on January 6th, the Presidential candidate that gets more than half (270) wins the election. The President-elect and Vice President-elect take the oath of office and are inaugurated two weeks later, on January 20th.

4.3 What are the main political parties in the USA?

Current United States Congressional seats

Political Party	House of Repr.	Senate
Democratic Party obama	192	51
Republican Party	240	47
Connecticut for Lieberman	0	1
Independent (a non-party politician)	0	1
Vacant	3	0

5.1 The Crown. What are the functions of the monarch in the UK?

Functions. The Queen is not only head of State, but also an important symbol of national unity. In law she is:

• Head of the executive

• An integral part of the legislature

• Head of the judiciary

• Commander-in-chief of all the armed forces of the Crown

• The “supreme governor” of the established Church of England

As a result of a long process of evolution, during which the monarchy’s absolute power has been progressively reduced, the Queen acts on the advice of her ministers. Britain is governed by Her Majesty’s Government and the devolved authorities in the name of the Queen.

In spite of a trend during the past hundred years towards giving powers directly to ministers, The Queen still takes part in some important acts of government. These include summoning, proroguing-which means stopping Parliament meeting without ending the session-and dissolving Parliament; and giving Royal Assent to Bills passed by Parliament and the Scottish Parliament. The Queen also formally appoints many important office holders. She is also involved in pardoning people convicted of crimes; and conferring peerages, knighthoods and other honours.

5.2 Her Majesty’s Government. What does ‘Cabinet government’ mean?

The monarch appoints a Prime Minister as the head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, guided by the strict convention that the Prime Minister should be the member of the House of Commons most likely to be able to form a Government with the support of that House. In practice, this means that the leader of the political party with an absolute majority of seats in the House of Commons is chosen to be the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister then selects the other Ministers which make up the Government and act as political heads of the various Government Departments. About 20 of the most senior government ministers make up the Cabinet and approximately 100 ministers in total comprise the government. In accordance with constitutional convention, all ministers within the government are either Members of Parliament or peers in the House of Lords.

The Prime Minister, as the label suggests, is the prime or senior minister in the Cabinet. She/he is responsible for chairing Cabinet meetings, selecting Cabinet ministers (and all other positions in Her Majesty's government), and formulating governmental policy.