美国等民主国家如何选出政府首脑

    Americans did not vote directly for Joe Biden or Donald Trump on Election Day on November 3. That makes the United States different from most democracies.
    美国人在11月3日大选日并非直接给乔·拜登或唐纳德·川普投票。这一点使得美国与大多数民主国家不同。

    Instead, they voted for electors who meet over a month later to officially choose the president. Those electors met Monday to officially choose Joe Biden as the nation's next president.
    相反,他们投票选出总统选举团成员,这些人在一个月之后开会正式选出总统。总统选举团成员周一开会正式选择拜登作为美国下任总统。

    The system is known as the Electoral College.
    该制度被成为选举人团制度。

    In other democratic countries, national leaders are either directly elected by voters or by a parliamentary system. In a parliamentary system, the party that wins the most seats in a national congress selects the head of government.
    在其它民主国家,国家领导人要么是由选民直接选举产生,要么是由议会制产生。在议会制中,由赢得国民议会多数席位的政党选出政府首脑。

    Here is a look at how democracies worldwide choose their leaders.
    以下我们来看一看世界范围内的民主国家如何选出他们的领导人。

    South Africa
    南非

    In 1994, South Africa held its first elections in which citizens of all races were permitted to vote. South Africans vote for political parties rather than for candidates. The party that won the majority of seats in the National Assembly would then be able to elect its own leader as president of South Africa.
    1994年,南非举行了第一次所有种族公民都被允许参与投票的选举。南非人投票选择政党而不是候选人。这样,赢得国民议会多数席位的政党便可以选择该党派领导人成为南非总统。

    Nelson Mandela, the leader of the African National Congress (ANC), became president in 1994. The party has controlled the country's politics ever since. However, the ANC won with its smallest majority yet in 2019, with 57 percent of the vote.
    非洲人国民大会领导人纳尔逊·曼德拉于1994年就任总统。此后该党一直控制着南非的政治。然而非洲人国民大会在2019年只获得了57%选票的微弱优势。

    Poland
    波兰

    Poland's democracy was reborn in 1989 after the fall of communism across eastern Europe. In Poland, a candidate who gets at least 50 percent of the popular vote becomes president. If no candidate gets at least 50 percent, the top two candidates face each other in a second round.
    东欧共产主义垮台后,波兰的民主制度于1989年重获新生。在波兰,获得至少50%选票的候选人成为总统。如果没有候选人获得至少50%的选票,则前两名候选人在第二轮中对决。

    There has only been one first-round winner, with the re-election in 2000 of Aleksander Kwasniewski. Even Lech Walesa, the famous founder of Poland's anti-communist Solidarity movement, needed a second-round vote to become Poland's first popularly elected president.
    首轮获胜者只有2000年连任的亚历山大·夸斯涅夫斯基。甚至波兰团结运动的著名创始人莱希·威尔士莎也需要进行第二轮投票才能当选成为波兰的第一任民选总统。

    Britain
    英国

    Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state. But British voters choose the head of government, the prime minister.
    伊丽莎白女王二世是英国国家元首。但是英国选民选出政府总理。

    Voters elect a lawmaker for their local area. Then, the party that wins the largest number of the 650-seat Parliament generally takes power, with the party leader becoming prime minister.
    选民们为当地选出一名议员。然后,在650席议会中获得最多席位的政党通常会上台执政,而该党的领导人将成为总理。

    A coalition government might be formed if no party wins a majority of seats. The winning party is almost always the one that took the biggest share of the popular vote. It is rare for any party to win a majority of the popular vote because several parties compete.
    如果没有任何政党获得多数席位,则可能组成联合政府。获胜政党几乎始终是民众投票中占最多份额的政党。很少有任何一方赢得多数选票,因为有多个政党竞争。

    Boris Johnson's Conservative Party only got 44 percent of the popular vote in the 2019 election. But his party won an 80-seat majority in Parliament, permitting him to remain as prime minister.
    鲍里斯·约翰逊领导的保守党在2019年大选中仅获得44%的选票。但是他的政党在议会中获得了80席的优势,从而使得他可以继续担任总理。

    Brazil
    巴西

    Brazil chooses its president through direct election. The election is usually held in two rounds unless the first-round winner gets more than 50 percent of the accepted votes.
    巴西通过直接选举产生总统。除非第一轮获胜者获得超过50%以上的选票,否则选举通常分两轮进行。

    Voting is required in Brazil. This leads to high voter turnout but also a number of incorrect or empty ballots. The fine for failing to vote is less than one U.S. dollar. In 2018, Jair Bolsonaro became president after winning more than 50 percent of the votes in the second round.
    投票在巴西是必须的。这导致选民投票率很高,但是也导致了很多不正确或是空缺的选票。不投票的罚款不到1美元。2018年,雅伊尔·博索纳罗在第二轮赢得超过50%的选票之后成为总统。

    South Korea
    韩国

    The president of South Korea is directly elected by a single-round, popular vote. The candidate who gets the most votes wins the presidency. A person must be at least 40 years old to run for the office.
    韩国总统是由一轮全民投票直接选举产生。得票最高的候选人赢得总统宝座。年满40才能竞选。

    The country's current president, Moon Jae-in, won a special election in May 2017. The election was held two months after South Korea's Constitutional Court removed Park Geun-hye from office for corruption. She is now serving time in prison for abuse of power, bribery and other crimes.
    韩国现任总统文在寅于2017年5月赢得了一次特别选举。这次选举是在韩国宪法法院因为腐败将朴槿惠赶下台两个月之后举行的。朴槿惠因滥用职权、贿赂等罪行目前在狱中服刑。

    New Zealand
    新西兰

    New Zealand's prime minister is chosen by other lawmakers and is usually the leader of the party that gains the most votes in the election. Under New Zealand's voting system, parties must often form alliances to command a majority in the parliament.
    新西兰总理是由其他议员选举产生,通常是在选举中获得最多选票的政党的领袖。在新西兰的投票制度下,政党经常必须结成联盟以在议会中获得多数席位。

    Although New Zealand is a fully independent and democratic nation, its head of state remains Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. That means the prime minister must officially be approved by the Queen's representative in New Zealand, the governor-general.
    尽管新西兰是一个完全独立和民主的国家,但是其国家元首仍然是英国女王伊丽莎白二世。这意味着新西兰总理必须得到女王在新西兰的代表新西兰总督的正式批准。

    Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the leader of the Labor Party, has been in office since October 2017. She won a second term in October of this year.
    工党领袖杰辛达·阿德恩从2017年10月起担任总理。她于今年10月赢得了第二个任期。

    India
    印度

    India, with nearly 1.4 billion people, is often called the world's largest democracy. The head of government is the prime minister. He or she is elected by members of the majority party of the Lok Sabha, the lower house of Parliament. In 2014, Narendra Modi became prime minister when his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won the general election.
    印度拥有近14亿人口,通常被称为世界上最大的民主国家。该国的政府首脑是总理。他(她)是由议会下议院(人民院)多数党成员选举产生。2014年,莫迪就任总统,当时他领导的印度人民党赢得了大选。

    The president in India acts as the ceremonial head of state who can "advise, encourage and warn" the elected government. The president is indirectly selected by elected members of Parliament and state legislatures. In 2017, nearly 5,000 lawmakers voted to select Ram Nath Kovind as president.
    印度总统作为可以“建议、鼓励和警告”民选政府的名义上的国家领导人。总统间接由国会和州议会的议员选出。2017年,近5000名议员投票选择拉姆·纳特·科温德为总统。

    I'm Jonathan Evans.
    我是乔纳森·埃文斯。

    And I'm Bryan Lynn.
    我是布莱恩·林恩。(51VOA.COM原创翻译,禁止转载,违者必究!)