Difference Between President and Prime Minister

We will be discussing a topic related to politics in this article. Some of us take a keen interest in politics. We have participated in college-level politics and may have already taken the plunge in active senior-level politics. We may even have the aspiration of leading the politics of the country one day. We have heard about the President and the Prime Minister of our country and various countries in the world. We used to think what is the difference between president and prime minister and whether their responsibilities would be the same.

In one case, we could be referring to the person who takes all the executive decisions and is responsible for running the country, including the financial decisions as well as the external and internal affairs of the country. The roles and responsibilities of these persons are not the same. Again, the duties may vary from country to country. We should not be confused about these people. In this article, we will talk about what is the difference between prime minister and president. While some countries will have one or the other as head of state; others will have both.

Definition of President

The president is the head of state and usually heads the armies of that country. However, the rank varies from country to country. In the USA, the President is the head of state and also leads the defense forces. However, in a country like India, the President is the symbolic head of state but is the commander of the armed forces. There is also a difference with the President of Russia.

He appoints the Prime Minister with the approval of Parliament, which in turn reports to the President and the Parliament. In India, there are two heads of state that have emerged from its earlier connection with the British. When we learn the difference between president and prime minister, we must know that the powers given to the President will depend on the constitution of the country that the person is representing.

Definition of Prime Minister

The Prime Minister is usually the head of the ministerial council and is responsible for all the executive decisions in the country. He or she leads the government but could be nominated by the President. The Prime Minister usually has to win an election and this is one of the significant differences between prime minister and president.

However, in certain other countries, the President needs to win an election as well. The Prime Minister needs to make sure he/she enjoys the support of the Parliament to be in power. In most countries, he/she will be nominated by the President. Once elected, he/she could choose his/her ministers and lead the government. He/She can also hold many important portfolios.

President vs Prime Minister Comparison Table

Let us now see the difference between president and prime minister in a tabular form.

Conclusion of Main Difference Between President vs Prime Minister

We had discussed the heads of states and governments. We want to mention here that there could be differences between the Head of State depending on the constitution of the country concerned. We talked about the difference between prime minister and president.

We see that in most countries with two heads of state, the president is the symbolic head of the country while the Prime Minister leads the government. The Prime Minister makes the policy decisions, but they have to be ratified by the President before they come into effect. In this article, we have provided an overview of the discrepancies between these terms. We hope that our readers were able to comprehend the differences.