Everything about The President Of The Senate totally explained
The
President of the Senate is a title often given to the
presiding officer, speaker, or chairman of a
senate.
In countries with a
presidential system of government the position is sometimes bestowed on the
Vice President, following the tradition set by the
United States Constitution; for example, the presidency of the
Argentine Senate or the
Senate of Uruguay. The Senate President is often a very high-ranking figure in the order of presidential
succession: for example, the
President of the Senate of Nigeria is second in line for succession to the presidency, after only the
Vice President of the Republic, while in
France, which has no vice president, the
Senate President is first in line to succeed the
President.
The
Senate of Antigua and Barbuda elects a
President and Vice President, for a five-year period, at the start of each parliamentary session. These officers may not be members of the government. The current incumbents are
Hazelyn Francis and
McKenzie Morris Frank.
The
Argentine Senate is presided by the
Vice-President of the Republic, currently
Julio Cobos. This was a recent expansion of the Vice-President's powers introduced as part of the
1994 Constitutional amendments (
Constitution, Art. 57). The Vice-President may only cast a vote to break a tied Senate vote.
The
Australian Senate elects a president from its members, who is comparable to the
Speaker of the House of Representatives. Unlike the Speaker, the President casts a deliberative vote in elections and not a casting vote; tied motions fail to pass. The position is partisan and has usually been held by a member of the Government party. The President is assisted by a deputy president, who has been (since 1981) a member of the Opposition party.
The
current President of the Senate is
South Australian
Liberal Alan Ferguson, with
Labor's
John Hogg of
Queensland as his deputy.
At the start of every parliamentary session, the
Senate of Barbados elects a
President and a
Vice President, neither of whom may be ministers or parliamentary secretaries. Prior to the
January 2008 general election, the positions were held by Sir
Fred Gollop and Dame
Patricia Symmonds.
» See also: List of Presidents of the Belgian Senate.
The presiding officer of the
Belgian Senate is elected by the senators at the beginning of each parliamentary term. The President of the Senate is customarily a member of a majority party with a great deal of political experience. He or she presides over the plenary assembly of the Senate, guides and controls debates in the assembly, and is responsible for ensuring the democratic functioning of the Senate, for the maintenance of order and security in the assembly and for enforcing the Rules of the Senate. He or she also represents the Senate at both the national (to the other institutions) and the international level.
The President of the Senate, together with the President of the
Chamber of Representatives, ranks immediately behind the
King in the
order of precedence. The elder of the two takes the second place in the order of precedence. The Presidents of the Senate and the Chamber rank above the
Prime Minister.
The
Senate of Belize elects both a president and a vice-president upon first convening after a
general election. The person elected president may be a senator (provided he/she doesn't concurrently hold a ministerial position) or a person external to the Senate. The vice-president must be a member of the Senate who does not hold a ministerial portfolio. (
Constitution, section 66.)
The
current President is
Phillip Zuniga, with Mrs.
Vincent Parks as Vice-President.
The
current President of Brazil's
Federal Senate is
Garibaldi Alves Filho, who represents
Rio Grande do Norte for the
PMDB.
The
President of the
Senate of Burundi, since
17 August 2005, is
Gervais Rufyikiri of the
CNDD-FDD. The president is assisted in his work by two vice-presidents.
The
Senate of Cambodia is led by a 12-person permanent commission
(bureau), which is in turn chaired by the
President of the Senate, currently
Chea Sim. He is assisted by a First and a Second Vice-President. The President and Vice-Presidents are elected as the first item of business at the start of every legislative session.
While the
Speaker of the Canadian Senate, who serves as the presiding officer of the
Senate of Canada, isn't described as a "president" in English, the position is called
Président du Sénat in
French.
The President of the
Senate of Chile is elected from among the country's senators. The
current holder of the position, since March 2008, is
Adolfo Zaldivar.
The President of the
Senate –
Nancy Patricia Gutiérrez for the 2007–08 period – also serves as the
President of the Congress of Colombia.
The members of the
Senate of Fiji elect from among their number both a
President and
Vice-President, whose roles are similar to those of the
Speaker and
Deputy Speaker of the
House of Representatives, respectively.
The
current incumbents are
Kinijoji Maivalili (President) and
Hafiz Khan (Vice-President).
The
Senate of France elects a president from among its own number. The
President of the French Senate stands first in line of succession in case of death or resignation of the
President of the Republic, becoming acting president until a presidential election can be held. This most recently occurred with
Alain Poher, who was senate president from 1968 to 1992 and who served as interim president on two occasions: following
De Gaulle's resignation in 1969, and following
Pompidou's death in office in 1974.
Since 1998 the position has been held by
Christian Poncelet of the
UMP.
In the German
Länder of
Bremen and
Hamburg, the Senates (or
Senat in German) are the executive branch, with Senators (
Senator) being the holders of ministerial portfolios. In these Länder, the President of the Senate (
Präsident des Senats) is an office equivalent to that of
minister-president in the other German Länder.
The
Senate of Italy holds its first sitting no later than 20 days after a general election. That session, presided by the oldest senator, proceeds to elect the
President of the Senate for the following parliamentary period. On the first two attempts at voting, an absolute majority of all senators is needed; if a third round is needed, a candidate can be elected by an absolute majority of the senators present and voting. If this third round fails to produce a winner, a final ballot is held between the two senators with the highest votes in the previous ballot. In the case of a tie, the elder senator is deemed the winner.
In addition to overseeing the business of the chamber, chairing and regulating debates, deciding whether motions and bills are admissible, representing the Senate, etc., the President of the Senate stands in for the
President of the Republic when s/he is unable to perform his/her duties.
The current President of the Senate is
Franco Marini. For a historical listing, see:
Italian Senate#Presidents.
While the
Vice-President of Liberia serves as president of the
Senate, the senators also elect from among their number a
President Pro Tempore to lead the chamber's day-to-day business.
The
Senate of Mexico, at the beginning of each annual legislative session, elects an Executive Board
(Mesa Directiva) from among its 128 members. The Executive Board comprises a president, three vice-presidents, and four secretaries, elected by an absolute majority of the Senators. Members of the Executive Board may be re-elected for the following year without restriction. The President of the Executive Board also serves as the President of the Senate.
The President of the Senate for the 2007–08 period of sessions is
Santiago Creel of the
National Action Party (PAN).
The
President of the Senate is the presiding officer of the upper house in the Nigerian
National Assembly. The Senate President is chosen by
indirect election within the
Senate.
The
current President of the Senate is
David Mark, who represents
Benue State for the
People's Democratic Party.
» See President of the Senate of the Philippines
» See Marshal of the Senate of the Republic of Poland
» See: Senate of Puerto Rico#Presidents of the Puerto Rico Senate
The
Standing Bureau of the
Romanian Senate consists of the
President of the Senate, four vice-presidents, four secretaries, and four quaestors. The President of the Standing Bureau also serves as the
President of the Senate. The President is elected, by secret ballot, for the duration of the legislative period.
The
Senate of South Africa was the
upper house of
Parliament between
1910 and
1981, and between
1994 and
1997. During both periods, the Senate was led by a
President.
» For a listing, see: Senate of South Africa#Presidents of the Senate of South Africa (1910-1980) and (1994-1997)
The
President of the
Senate of Trinidad and Tobago, who is generally elected from the government benches, chairs debates in the chamber and stands in for the
country's president during periods of absence or illness (
Constitution, section 27). A Vice-President of the Senate is also elected from among the senators. The current President of the Senate is
Danny Montano.
» See also: List of the Presidents of the United States Senate and Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The
Vice President of the United States is designated by the Constitution as the President of the
Senate. The Vice President holds a
tie breaking vote in the Senate and doesn't usually preside over the Senate. Since its conception, the role of casting a tie-breaking vote in the Senate has been exercised 242 times. The Vice President of the United States with the most tie breaking votes is
John Adams with 29. If there's no sitting Vice President then the
President pro tempore of the United States Senate serves as President of the Senate. In practice, freshman senators are traditionally assigned the role of presiding over the Senate in order to learn Senate procedure.
The current Vice President of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate is
Dick Cheney.
US state senates
In United States
state government, the President of the
Senate is a matter decided by the state constitution. Some states designate the
Lieutenant Governor as President of the Senate, while other states allow for the Senate to elect one of the Senators as President. The
Tennessee Senate elects a Senator as
Speaker, and this Speaker is given the title of Lieutenant Governor. Similarly,
New Hampshire has no lieutenant governor, but the
State Senate elects a president who is the
de facto Lieutenant Governor, given that in the event of the Governor's death, resignation, or inability to serve, the President of the Senate acts as Governor until the position is filled, presumably by the next regularly scheduled biennial Gubernatorial election.
While such systems where the first in line for the
Executive is the President of the Senate seem similar to the Vice Presidency of the United States, only once in history has there been a Vice President of a
party opposing that of the President, when
Democratic-Republican Thomas Jefferson was Vice President under
Federalist John Adams, a situation that in part prompted the later adoption of the
Twelfth Amendment to prevent such a situation from reoccurring. (While
Abraham Lincoln and
Andrew Johnson were a
Republican and a
Democrat respectively, they were elected together on the
National Union ticket in the
1864 presidential election.) In states where the President of a Senate is chosen by the Senate (
Tennessee and New Hampshire), it's far more likely in that the first in line of succession for the executive would be a political adversary of the sitting Governor.
The
Vice President of Uruguay presides over that country's 30-member
Senate.
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