9. The American system of government

The government of the United States of America is the federal government of the republic of fifty states that constitute the United States, as well as one capital district, and several other territories. The federal government is composed of three distinct branches:legislative, executive and judicial, whose powers are vested by the U.S. Constitution in the Congress, the President, and the federal courts, including the Supreme Court, respectively. The powers and duties of these branches are further defined by acts of Congress, including the creation of executive departments and courts inferior to the Supreme Court

The full name of the republic is "The United States of America". No other name appears in the Constitution, and this is the name that appears on money, in treaties, and in legal cases to which it is a party (e.g., Charles T. Schenck v. United States). The terms "Government of the United States of America" or "United States Government" are often used in official documents to represent the federal government as distinct from the states collectively. In casual conversation or writing, the term "Federal Government" is often used, and the term "National Government" is sometimes used. The terms "Federal" and "National" in government agency or program names generally indicate affiliation with the federal government (e.g., Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, etc.). Because the seat of government is in Washington, D.C., "Washington" is commonly used as ametonym for the federal government.

The outline of the government of the United States is laid out in the Constitution. The government was formed in 1789, making the United States one of the world's first, if not the first, modern national constitutional republics.

The President names the heads of federal departments while judges are either elected directly by the people or appointed by elected officials.

The Constitution divides the powers of the government into three branches — the executive, headed by the President; the legislative, which includes both houses of Congress (the Senate and the House of Representatives); and the judicial, which is headed by the Supreme Court. The Constitution limits the role of each branch to prevent any one branch from gaming undue power.

The whole system of American government is based on the principles established in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The state governments follow much the same pattern as the federal government. Each has a governor as the chief executive, with power divided among the executive, legislative and judicial branches. State governments manage such affairs as maintaining order, educating children and young adults and building highways. The federal government deals with national problems and international relations and with regional problems that involve more than one state.

10. Elections in the Republic of Kazakhstan

Elections in Kazakhstan are held on a national level to elect a President and the Parliament, which is divided into two bodies, the Majilis(Lower House) and the Senate (Upper House). Local elections for maslikhats (local representative bodies) are held every five years.^[1]Elections are administered by the Central Election Commission of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is a one party dominant state. This party is a union of several parties and it was elected in 2007.In the recent Kazakh elections, many Kazakh voters were offered a choice of voting on electronic voting machines or on paper ballots. At least some of the ballot boxes used in Kazakhstan are transparent in order to defend against ballot box stuffing. Each polling place was equipped with both a large ballot box and smaller mobile ballot boxes. The latter are designed to be carried, by poll-workers, to voters outside the polling place.^[2] This is an alternative to offering absentee ballots or proxy voting for voters with disabilities that prevent them from going to the polls. Kazakhstan's president is elected by the people and serves for at most two five-year terms. Term limits were removed for the incumbent Nursultan Nazarbayev on 18 May 2007, when parliament also voted to reduce the term length from seven to five years. Electronic voting in Kazakhstan is based on the AIS "Sailau" electronic voting system developed in Belarus and Kazakhstan. This system is best described as an indirect-recording electronic voting system, as opposed to the DRE voting machines that have been more widely studied.The legislature, known as the Parliament (Parlamenti), has two chambers.The Assembly (Mazhilis) has 107 seats, elected for a five-year term, 98 elected in general elections by proportional representation with 7% threshold and 9 elected by the Assembly of Kazakhstani Nation.The Senate has 47 members, 40 of whom are elected to six-year terms in double-seat constituencies by the local assemblies, half renewed every two years, and 7 presidential appointees. In addition, ex-presidents are ex officio senators for life.