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A presidential system is a system of government where a head of government is also head of state and leads an executive branch that is separate from the legislative branch. The United States, for instance, has a presidential system. The executive is elected and often titled "president" and is not responsible to the legislature and cannot, in normal circumstances, dismiss it. The legislature may have the right, in extreme cases, to dismiss the executive, often through impeachment. However, such dismissals are seen as so rare as not to contradict a central tenet of presidentialism, that in ''normal circumstances using normal means'' the legislature cannot dismiss the executive. The title ''president'' has persisted from a time when such person personally presided over the government body, as with the US President of the Continental Congress, before the executive function was split into a separate branch of government and could no longer preside over the legislative body. Presidential systems are numerous and diverse, but the following are generally true: * The executive can veto legislative acts and, in turn, a supermajority of lawmakers may override the veto. The veto is generally derived from the British tradition of royal assent in which an act of parliament can only be enacted with the assent of the monarch. * The president has a fixed term of office. Elections are held at regular times and cannot be triggered by a vote of confidence or other parliamentary procedures. Although in some countries there is an exception, which provides for the removal of a president who is found to have broken a law. * The executive branch is unipersonal. Members of the cabinet serve at the pleasure of the president and must carry out the policies of the executive and legislative branches. Cabinet ministers or executive departmental chiefs are not members of the legislature. However, presidential systems often need legislative approval of executive nominations to the cabinet, judiciary, and various lower governmental posts. A president generally can direct members of the cabinet, military, or any officer or employee of the executive branch, but cannot direct or dismiss judges. * The president can often pardon or commute sentences of convicted criminals. Countries that feature a presidential system of government are not the exclusive users of the title of ''President''. For example, a dictator, who may or may not have been popularly or legitimately elected may be and often is called a president. Likewise, leaders of one-party states are often called presidents. Most parliamentary republics have presidents, but this position is largely ceremonial; notable examples include Germany, India, Ireland, Israel and Italy. The title is also used in parliamentary republics with an executive presidency, and also in semi-presidential systems. ==Characteristics of presidents== In a full-fledged presidential system, a president is chosen directly by the people or indirectly by the winning party to be the head of the executive branch. Presidential governments make no distinction between the positions of head of state and head of government, both of which are held by the president. A few countries (e.g., South Africa) have powerful presidents who are elected by the legislature. These executives are titled "president", but are in practice similar to prime ministers. Other countries with the same system include Botswana, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, and Suriname. In some presidential systems such as Azerbaijan or Mozambique, there is an office of prime minister or premier but, unlike in semipresidential or parliamentary systems, the premier answers to the president and not to the legislature. By contrast, national presidents are ''figurehead'' heads of state, like constitutional monarchs, of parliamentary governments and are not active executive heads of government (although some figurehead presidents and constitutional monarchs maintain reserve powers). They are responsible for the formalities of state functions and ensuring a functional parliament, while the constitutional prerogatives of head of government are generally exercised by the prime minister. Such symbolic presidents can be directly elected by the people or indirectly by a legislative vote. Only a few nations, such as Ireland and Portugal, have a popularly elected ceremonial president. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「presidential system」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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