An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g.

president-elect of the United States The president-elect of the United States is the candidate who has presumptively won the United States presidential election and is awaiting inauguration to become the president. There is no explicit indication in the U.S. Constitution as to whe ...

). Analogously, the term ''-designate'' (e.g.

prime minister-designate A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...

) is used for the same purpose.

History

This usage of the term ''-elect'' originated in the Catholic Church, where bishops were elected but would not take office until

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

. In addition, the winner of a

papal election A papal conclave is a gathering of the College of Cardinals convened to elect a bishop of Rome, also known as the pope. Catholics consider the pope to be the apostolic successor of Saint Peter and the earthly head of the Catholic Church. ...

would be known as the ''pope-elect'' until he was confirmed and actually became pope. The term entered politics with the practice of elective monarchy. For example, the Holy Roman emperor was elected by a college of

prince-elector The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century onwards, the prin ...

s, but the winning candidate would not become emperor until he was crowned by the pope. Between election and coronation, he was known as the ''imperator electus'', or emperor-elect. By the 19th century, the term had expanded to describe any position in which a substantial period of time elapses between election and installation. For example, it was common in the 19th century to refer to a

fiancée An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

as a ''bride-elect''.

Official positions in organizations

The bylaws of some clubs and other organizations may define an official position of president-elect similar to a

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

position. The members of the organization elect the president-elect, rather than directly electing the organization's president. The president-elect may be given limited duties, similar to a vice president. At the end of the term, the president-elect is promoted to the position of president, and a new president-elect is elected. The advantage of this schema is a clear continuity of succession, as well as the opportunity to familiarize the president-elect with the operations of the organization before becoming president. A possible drawback is that once a president-elect has been elected, another person cannot be elected president unless the president-elect resigns or is removed from office. The position of president-elect is different from someone who was elected president and is called "president-elect" between the time of election and the start of the term. For example, if an election for president was held in January, but the term of office does not begin until March, the person who was elected president may be called "president-elect" but does not hold any power until the term begins in March. On the other hand, someone in the position of president-elect has all the powers of that position that the bylaws provide. Similarly, organizations may have other official positions such as vice president-elect, secretary-treasurer-elect, director-elect, and chair-elect.

References

{{reflist Elections Titles