Direct election is a term describing a system of choosing political officeholders in which the voters directly cast ballots for the person, persons or political party that they desire to see elected. The method by which the winner or winners of a direct election are chosen depends upon the electoral system used. The most commonly used systems are the plurality system and the two round system for single winner elections, such as a presidential election, and party-list proportional representation for the election of a legislature.
Examples of directly elected bodies are the European Parliament and the United States Senate (since 1917).
By contrast, in an indirect election, the voters cast elect an assembly which in turn elects the officeholder in question.
Lutfur Rahman (Bengali: লুফুর রহমান) is a community activist and local politician in London, England. He became the first directly elected mayor of Tower Hamlets in 2010, having previously been the leader of Tower Hamlets London Borough Council from 2008 to 2010.
Lutfur Rahman was born in Bangladesh, and then moved to the United Kingdom at a young age. He grew up in Tower Hamlets and attended the Manor Primary School in Bow, the Lawdale Junior School in Bethnal Green and Bow School.
Rahman qualified as a solicitor and became a partner in a legal firm, specialising in family law.
Rahman has taken part in local civil society initiatives including Member and General Secretary (1987–89) of Progressive Youth Organisation, Spitalfields and Founding Member and first Treasurer (1990) of Keen Students Supplementary School (KSS). He was General Secretary of Community Alliance for Police Accountability (CAPA) and Chair of the Tower Hamlets Law Centre. Rahman has also been a Non-Executive Director of Barts and The London NHS Trust.
Kisan Baburao Hazare pronunciation (help·info) (Marathi: किसन बाबुराव हजारे, Kisan Bāburāv Hajārē ?) (born 15 June 1937), popularly known as Anna Hazare pronunciation (help·info) (Marathi: अण्णा हजारे, Aṇṇā Hajārē ?) is an Indian social activist who led movements to promote rural development, increase government transparency, and investigate and punish official corruption. In addition to organizing and encouraging grassroots movements, Hazare frequently conducted hunger strikes to further his causes—a tactic reminiscent, to many, of the work of Mohandas K. Gandhi. Hazare also contributed to the development and structuring of Ralegan Siddhi, a village in Parner taluka of Ahmednagar district, Maharashtra, India. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan—the third-highest civilian award—by the Government of India in 1992 for his efforts in establishing this village as a model for others.
Anna Hazare started an indefinite hunger strike on 5 April 2011 to exert pressure on the Indian government to enact a stringent anti-corruption law, The Lokpal Bill, 2011 as envisaged in the Jan Lokpal Bill, for the institution of an ombudsman with the power to deal with corruption in public places. The fast led to nation-wide protests in support. The fast ended on 9 April 2011, a day after the government accepted Hazare's demands. The government issued a gazette notification on the formation of a joint committee, consisting of government and civil society representatives, to draft the legislation.