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electoral college

(Encyclopedia)electoral college, in U.S. government, the body of electors that chooses the president and vice president. The Constitution, in Article 2, Section 1, provides: “Each State shall appoint, in such Man...

Honduras

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Honduras hŏndo͝orˈəs, –dyo͝orˈ–; Span., ōndo͞oˈräs [key], officially Republic of Honduras, republic (2015 est. pop. 8,961,000), 43,277 sq mi (112,088 sq km), Central America. Seco...

Pérez Molina, Otto

(Encyclopedia)Pérez Molina, Otto, 1950–, Guatemalan army officer and politician, b. Guatemala City. Pérez rose through the officer ranks to become a general, leading troops and then military intelligence during...

Holness, Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Holness, Andrew, 1972–, Jamaican politician, prime minister of Jamaica (2011–12, 2016–). A member of the Jamaica Labor party (JLP), Holness served (1996–2000) as special assistant to Prime Min...

Gandhi, Sonia

(Encyclopedia)Gandhi, Sonia gänˈdē [key], 1946–, Indian politician, b. Turin, Italy, as Sonia Maino. She met Rajiv Gandhi in 1965 when they were students in Cambridge, England. They were married in 1968 and se...

Papandreou, George, 1888–1968, Greek political leader

(Encyclopedia)Papandreou, George päˌpəndrāˈo͞o [key], 1888–1968, Greek political leader, father of Andreas Papandreou and grandfather of George Papandreou (b. 1952). As a young man he became involved in ant...

Betancourt, Rómulo

(Encyclopedia)Betancourt, Rómulo rōˈmo͞olō bĕtänko͝orˈ [key], 1908–81, Venezuelan political leader, president of Venezuela (1945–48, 1959–64). Following a stormy career as a leader of radical student...

Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson

(Encyclopedia)Sirleaf, Ellen Johnson sĭrlēfˈ [key], 1938–, Liberian economist and political leader. Educated in the United States (M.P.A. Harvard, 1971), she worked in the Liberian government (1964–67, 1977�...

Sirisena, Maithripala

(Encyclopedia)Sirisena, Maithripala (Pallewatte Gamaralalage Maithripala Gapa Sirisena), 1951–, Sri Lankan political leader. After an early interest in the Communist party, he joined the Sri Lankan Freedom party ...

Kassem, Abdul Karim

(Encyclopedia)Kassem, Abdul Karim äbdo͝olˈ kärēmˈ kässēmˈ [key], 1914–63, Iraqi general and politician. A graduate (1934) of the Iraqi military academy, he attended the army staff college. His outstandin...