As a Belgian living in America, one of the big things that I observed about the U.S. presidential election is the fact that there are only two political parties in this country! Certainly for American citizens this fact doesn’t bother you at all, but as a European it is kind of disturbing. In Europe, most of the countries have more than two political parties. In Belgium we have a ton of parties, too many according to me – actually there are around 15 major parties.
I am pretty stunned by the fact you can only vote for a very few candidates. In fact, there are only seven candidates for this presidential election. It seems to me that it is not very democratic to not have a large choice on the future president.
The biggest problem in these elections is the primary process. If the candidate for whom you are voting doesn’t get enough votes, he is simply going to fail.
Even more, you will need to change your vote and go vote for another candidate – one you didn’t want to vote for a few months ago. This process totally takes away your freedom of voting! This process is undemocratic and should be unconstitutional.
I think the United States should change the election process. Firstly by having more political parties and candidates. And secondly, change the entire election process to ensure every candidate has an opportunity to be voted on by the public.
Erwan Brems
Bayfield
