EXPLAINER: How do other democratic nations select leaders?

The way in which America formally chooses its president stands in stark contrast to how most of the world’s democracies select leaders. In other democratic countries, heads of government are either directly elected by voters or by a parliamentary system in which the party winning the most seats in a national assembly selects the head of state. Complications can arise, such as second-round voting or the the need to form coalitions. In the United Kingdom, for example, voters first elect a la