America’s baroque electoral system is a disaster waiting to happen

AMERICA may be the oldest modern democracy, but wisdom has not come with experience. The way it elects its president is dangerously antiquated.

Four American presidents have been elected even though their respective opponents had received more votes - and there could well be a fifth case of the phenomenon this week.

The first president to be elected after losing the popular vote was John Quincy Adams in 1824. Ironically, he was the first son of a former president to be elected and - like his father before him - he failed to get re-elected.