Choosing Chiefs In The Global Village

United States : The Constitution provides that "No person except a natural-born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of the President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of 35 years, and been years a Resident within the United States." Although US law protects dual and even triple citizenship, no US president has ever had either. In the late ’70s, secretary of state Henry A. Kissinger, a naturalised US citizen born in Germany, was barred by the presidential qualifications clause from his office’s legal place in the line of succession to the presidency.

France : The president or prime minister must be a French citizen, though it isn’t necessary to have been born in the country. While dual citizenship is not banned in France, no head of state has ever held two passports. "The last occurence of an ‘outsider’ holding a post equivalent to that of prime minister was between 1643 and 1661 when Italian cardinal Jules Mazarin wielded power while King Louis XIV was still a child," says a French diplomat.

Peru: Only natural-born Peruvians are eligible for the office of president. However, only 40 per cent of the people are purely Peruvian. Forty-five per cent are racially mixed with Spanish, African or Asian blood. Only 10 per cent are purely white; the remaining five per cent have maintained  Asian and African purity. President Alberto Fujimori, who came to power in July 1990, was born in Peru to Japanese immigrants. The president is not allowed to have dual citizenship.

Britain: Any citizen of a Commonwealth country can contest an election to parliament. Though dual citizenship is allowed by British law, it can be theoretically argued that the entire ruling party and opposition in the House of Commons can be made up of non-British Common-wealth citizens. Britain has no written Constitution and parliament makes laws as they come up. But this much is written: the prime minister is answerable to the monarch, who is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. The premier must be a member of the church , and promise to uphold it.

Italy: Only an Italian citizen can be elected to the post of president of the republic, explains a diplomat. It is not necessary for the person to be a natural-born citizen. However, since 1948, all presidents have also been ethnic Italians.

Australia: The prime minister must be either natural-born or at least five years naturalised. A parliamentarian cannot hold dual citizenship.

Russia: Though the president must have a Russian passport, the elected representative need not have been born within the state. "This goes back to about 1,500 years ago, when Russia existed as the Slavic state of Kiev Rus which was a mixture of Slavic people," explains the Russian embassy spokesman.

Pakistan: Both the president and the prime minister must possess the Pakistani National Identity Card and be Muslim by faith. They cannot possess passports of any other country. There is no requirement that the head of the state should have been born in Pakistan. "Syrian-born Ghinwa Bhutto (Murtaza Bhutto’s widow) whose parents migrated to Beirut acquired Pakistani nationality only days prior to her election campaign," explains a Pakistani diplomat.