Republics
In republics, a desire to ensure a continuity of operations at all times has resulted in most offices having some formalized order of succession. In a country with fixed-term elections, the head of state (president) is sometimes succeeded following death or resignation by the vice president or prime minister, in turn followed by various office holders of the legislative assembly, and/or other government ministers. For example, if both the President of the United States and Vice President of the United States are unable to serve, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives takes over as acting President. Next in line is the President pro tempore of the United States Senate, who is followed by the Secretary of State, and other cabinet officials. In many republics, however, a new election takes place some period after the demise of the incumbent president. For more information on the succession process in the United States of America, see United States presidential line of succession. In contrast, in Finland, the president's temporary successor is the prime minister and then the ministers in the order of days spent in office, instead of a prefixed order. Since there is no vice president, a new president has to be elected if the president dies or resigns.
Read more about this topic: Order Of Succession
Famous quotes containing the word republics:
“It is, said Gargantua, as Plato said ... that republics will be happy when kings philosophize or philosophers reign.”
—François Rabelais (1494–1553)
“Royalty is a government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting actions. Accordingly, so long as the human heart is strong and the human reason weak, Royalty will be strong because it appeals to diffused feeling, and Republics weak because they appeal to the understanding.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)