The presidential
system government is a model of political and administrative governance in
operation in many countries, developed and developing, in which both the executive
and ceremonial powers are exercised by a single person who is also addressed as
the Commander in Chief of the armed forces.
This article takes a
look at this system of government by first defining it and identifying its
major characteristics. It also examines its merits and demerits as well as its
practice in specific countries such as the United States and Nigeria.
The Meaning of Presidential System of Government
The institution of a
single man and non-parliamentary executive chiefly characterizes the
presidential system of government. The same person who holds the title of the
head of state is also head of government.
The real political
or executive power is combined with the ceremonial powers and are both
exercised by a single man who is also addressed as the Commander-in-Chief of
the armed forces. The executive headed by him is the government and it is
headed by the president who is also the head of the executive.
The president is normally
elected directly through popular votes or, indirectly via the collegiate
system, otherwise known as the Electoral College and he is directly accountable
to the electorate.
The election to the
office of the president is independent of the election to the legislature. The
whole country constitutes a single constituency to the president.
On assumption of
office, the president is seen as the symbol of national unity and chief
administrator for the nation.
Presidential System of Government is defined as that type of
government in which the three organs of government, that is the legislature,
the executive and the judiciary are separated and co-ordinate in power, each of
them acting independently within its own sphere.
The President does
not share his power with any other person, unlike the Prime Minister who is
first among equals in a parliamentary system. The holder of the office of president
is often called executive president because he is solely responsible for the
implementation of legislative decisions.
He is the chief
security officer of the whole country, and in the exercise of this power, he
sees to the maintenance of law and order in the country. He is also the
commander-in-chief of the armed forces, which confers on the occupant of that
office the power to declare war to defend the independence, sovereignty and
territorial integrity of his country.
Examples of
countries in the world that practice this system of government are U.S.A,
Spain, France, and Nigeria. The tenure office of the president is fixed; he
stays in office for a specific tenure and he can be re-elected for a second
term. The number of years a president stays in office depends on the
constitution of the country concerned.
In Nigeria, the
fixed tenure for any president is four years.
Features of Presidential System of Government
i) Combination of
Two Offices in One: The combination of the office of the head of state and
head of government makes for quick and prompt decisions, especially on rare
occasions when delays or vacillations may be dangerous for the corporate
existence of a nation. To facilitate this, the American presidential system,
for instance, allows the president the power to issue executive orders without
recourse to the congress, while the Nigerian system also permits a president to
take steps in exceptional circumstances, before seeking the approval of the
National Assembly.
ii) Presidential
Discretion in Appointments: The President also has a free hand in
appointing his ministers and other government appointees. Ministers can be
chosen from outside the president’s party. This is due to the insulation of the
president from party politics under the presidential system of government.
iii) A Single
Countrywide Constituency: The whole country constitutes a single
constituency for the president in a presidential system of government and he is
elected for a fixed term of four years, and separately from members of the
parliament.
iv) Separation of Powers and Checks and
Balances: The presidential system of government is anchored on the twin mechanisms
of separation of power and checks and balances. This is not the case in the
parliamentary system where there is a fusion of power among the three organs of
government.
v) Fixed Tenure
of Office: The President under the presidential system has a fixed tenure
in office, usually a four-year period before another election is due when he
can seek for re-election for another term in office. In Nigeria and the United
States, no president can serve in office for more than two terms.
vi) Veto Power: In
the presidential system of government, the president is constitutionally empowered
to refuse to assent any bill passed by the legislature that he considers to be
against the public interest, but it isn’t a feature in the parliamentary system
of government.
vii) Primacy is
accorded to the Constitution: The constitution is the supreme law in the
presidential system. This is unlike most parliamentary system where supremacy
lies with the parliament.
Merits of Presidential
System of Government
i) Promptness in Decision-making:
The
presidential system of government makes for decisive actions because the
president knows that ‘the buck stops on his desk’, a phrase popularized
by the late Harry Truman when he decided to use nuclear weapons against
two Japanese cities to bring about a decisive end to World War II.
In America and
Nigeria, the constitution did not even make it mandatory for the
president to call a meeting of the executive council before he can take
action on any issue. The president is at liberty to either consult his
ministers or any of them or refuse to seek their opinion in taking decisions.
This promptness in decision-making therefore makes the response of the
government to issues quick and decisive, especially in situations where
any delay in taking action may be dangerous.
ii) Presidential
Discretion in Appointments: In the presidential system
of government, the president uses his discretion to appoint his ministers and
other government appointees. Ministers could be chosen from outside the president’s
party.
This confers a high
degree of latitude on the president to select the best materials from any part
of the country.
Since the buck stops
at his desk, the president can easily replace or fire any of his appointees
because they are directly responsible to him.
iii) A Single
Countrywide Constituency: The fact that the electorate popularly
elects the president makes the whole country a single constituency for him, and
as such, the party does not have an overbearing control over him, beyond offering
him advice at party caucuses. He, rather than his party or his appointees, bear
responsibilities for his actions and inactions. This constitutes a consistent
source of pressure on him to perform since he cannot shift blame to any other
person.
iv) Separation of Powers and Checks and Balances: The
mechanism of separation of power enhances the effective performance of each
organ of government in its functions, while checks and balances also ensure
that a dictatorial president can be brought under constitutional checks. The
combination of the two devises will obviously improve the performance of
government.
v) Fixed Tenure of
Office: The fixed tenure in the office enjoyed by the president
under the presidential system makes for the stability of the government and the
continuity of policies. A stable government allows for both medium- and
long-term planning, rather than the instability that characterizes a parliamentary
system of government.
A new general
election can be called in a parliamentary system any time a vote of no
confidence is passed on the government
vi) Individual Ministerial Responsibility: Ministers
take responsibilities for their actions individually not collectively. Thus,
unlike the parliamentary system this allows a non-performing minister to
shelter under the concept of collective responsibility, the presidential system
makes it easier for an ineffective minister to be identified and singled out
for blame or even dismissal. His dismissal
will not affect other ministers or even, in the extreme make a government
collapse.
Demerits of Presidential System of Government
i) Prone to
Dictatorship: The presidential system is prone to dictatorship or abuse of
office, which is dangerous to the democratic process. This is a result of
enormous power that is constitutionally allotted to the office of the
president.
Presidentialism
focuses too much on the personality of the president and his capacity, and when
the individual is undermined the office is undermined and the system may even
be threatened. The disposition of the president to be autocratic can also be
attributed to the cumbersome process that is required before a sitting
president can be impeached.
ii) Friction among
Government Organs: Separation of powers can cause delays in the execution
of government policies and programmes, especially in situations where
executive-legislative relations are not properly managed. In less matured
democracies of the developing world, this problem is more acute when different
political parties are in control of the executive and the legislature. A
watertight separation of power often inhibits the smooth running of government,
especially if an attempt by one organ to moderate the activities of the other
through the mechanism of checks and balances is being resisted
iii) Expensive to
Operate: Another demerit of the presidential system is that it is very
expensive to run. In the presidential system, elected members of the legislature
are required to resign before they can be appointed as ministers, unlike in the
parliamentary system which selected cabinet members from the elected members of
the parliament. This arrangement is economically more efficient than the
presidential system.
iv) Absence of Party Discipline: Unlike the
parliamentary system where party discipline is very strong and which fuses the
cabinet and the parliament into one like a ‘Siamese twin’ which must swim and
sink together, this is not the case in a presidential model.
Read On: Doctrine of separation of powers
Application of the Presidential System of Government
The Presidential
system of government is an operation in many countries. The countries include
the United States, a country that is unarguably the model for that system of
government. Indeed Nigeria, with minor modifications, adopted the American type
of presidential system of government in 1979.
The United States’
constitution under Article II provided for the establishment of the office of a
strong president. As pointed out by Alexander Hamilton, a popular delegate to
the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Article II was aimed towards “energy in the
Executive”. The constitution did so to overcome the natural stalemate that was
built into the bicameral legislature as well as into the separation of powers
among the three organs of government.
The President of the
United States exercises executive powers as the head of state; head of
government and commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The arrangement almost
equally applies to Nigeria. One major difference is that the vice president in
the United States is also the president of the senate, a position he occupies
by the fact of his being the incumbent vice president. He seldom attends the
sittings of the upper house except on the rare occasion when he is expected to
use his casting vote to break a tie in voting in the senate.
In Nigerian, the
president of the senate is first and foremost an elected member of the senate
before he is elected from among his colleagues as the presiding officer of the senate.
Conclusion
on Presidential System of Government:
Meaning, Features, Merits and Demerits
The American
experience of over two hundred years has shown that the presidential system of
government can be a success story. It is unique because political and
administrative powers are divided among the executive, legislative and judicial
organs. Despite its many advantages, however, it is claimed by the opponents of
the model that the presidential system of government is too expensive to
maintain, especially by less developed countries and that it cannot readily
guarantee a responsive, or provide a responsible government.
In this article, we
began with the treatment of the presidential system of government by defining
it and stating its basic features. We also discussed the merits and the demerits
of the presidential system of government, citing the United States and Nigeria
as case studies to illustrate the practice.
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