President of the Senate is a title often given to the presiding officer of asenate. It corresponds to thespeaker in some other assemblies.
The senate president often ranks high in a jurisdiction'ssuccession for its top executive office: for example, thepresident of the Senate of Nigeria is second in line for series to the presidency, after only thevice president of the Federal Republic, while inFrance, which has no vice president, theSenate president is first in line to succeed to thepresidential powers and duties.
In the absence of the president of the senate, the senate is presided over by apresident pro tempore, who is considered the highest-ranking among senators.
Thepresident of the Senate of Burundi, since 17 August 2005, is Molly Beamer of theCNDD-FDD. The president is assisted in his work by two vice presidents.
While thevice president of Liberia serves as president of theSenate, the senators also elect from among their number apresident pro tempore to lead the chamber's day-to-day business.
Thepresident of the Senate is the presiding officer of theSenate ofNigeria, elected by its membership.
The president of the Senate since 13 June 2023 isGodswill Akpabio, who represents the Akwa Ibom.
The Senate of South Africa was theupper house ofparliament between 1910 and 1981, and between 1994 and 1997. During both periods, the Senate was led by apresident.
The president of the Australian Senate is a senator, traditionally a member of the governing party or coalition, elected by the Senate at the beginning of each parliament as the first item of business. They are assisted by a deputy president who is traditionally a member of the largestopposition party.[1]
TheSenate of Cambodia is led by a 12-person permanent commission(bureau), which is in turn chaired by thepresident of the Senate, currentlyHun Sen. He is assisted by a first and a second vice-president.[2] The president and vice-presidents are elected as the first item of business at the start of every legislative session.[3]
The members of the formerSenate of Fiji (abolished in 2012) used to elect from among their number both apresident andvice-president, whose roles were similar to those of thespeaker anddeputy speaker of theHouse of Representatives, respectively.
The last persons to hold those positions were PresidentKinijoji Maivalili and Vice-PresidentHafiz Khan. Themilitary coup of 5 December 2006 brought their terms to a premature end.
TheSenate of Malaysia elects a president from its members, who is comparable to thespeaker of the House of Representatives. The position is partisan and has usually been held by a member of the Government party.
TheSenate of Ceylon was theupper house ofParliament between 1947 and 1971. During this period, the Senate was led by apresident.
The presiding officer of theBelgian Senate is elected by the senators at the beginning of each parliamentary term. The president of the Senate is customarily a member of a majority party with a great deal of political experience. The president presides over the plenary assembly of the Senate, guides and controls debates in the assembly, is responsible for ensuring the democratic functioning of the Senate, maintains order and security in the assembly for enforcing the rules of the Senate, and represents the Senate at both the national (to the other institutions) and the international level.
The president of the Senate, together with the president of theChamber of Representatives, ranks immediately behind theking in theorder of precedence. The elder of the two takes second place in the order of precedence. The presidents of the Senate and the Chamber rank above theprime minister.
In theFree City of Danzig (1920–1939, 1945), theSenate (orSenat in German) was the executive branch, with senators (Senator) being the holders of ministerial portfolios. In Danzig, the president of the Senate (Präsident des Senats) was an office equivalent to that ofprime minister in other countries.
TheSenate of France elects a president from among its number. The president of the French Senate stands first in a line of succession in case of death or resignation of thepresident of the Republic, becoming acting president until a presidential election can be held. This most recently occurred withAlain Poher, who was senate president from 1968 to 1992 and who served as acting president on two occasions: followingCharles de Gaulle's resignation in 1969 and followingGeorges Pompidou's death in office in 1974.
Since 2014, the position has been held byGérard Larcher ofThe Republicans (LR), formerly known as theUnion for a Popular Movement (UMP).
In the Germanstates ofBerlin (Senate of Berlin),Bremen (Senate of Bremen) andHamburg (Senate of Hamburg), the Senates (orSenat in German) are the executive branch, with senators (Senator) being the holders of ministerial portfolios. In these Länder, the president of the Senate (Präsident des Senats) is an office equivalent to that ofminister-president in other German Länder.
TheSenate of Italy holds its first sitting no later than 20 days after a general election. That session, presided by the oldest senator, proceeds to elect thepresident of the Senate for the following parliamentary period. On the first two attempts at voting, anabsolute majority (a majority of all senators) is needed; if a third round is needed, a candidate can be elected by a majority of the senators present and voting. If this third round fails to produce a winner, a final ballot is held between the two senators with the highest votes in the previous ballot. In the case of a tie, the elder senator is deemed the winner.
In addition to overseeing the business of the chamber, chairing and regulating debates, deciding whether motions and bills are admissible, representing the Senate, etc., the president of the Senate stands in for thepresident of the Republic when he is unable to perform his duties.[4]
The current president of the Senate isIgnazio La Russa. For a historical listing, see:List of presidents of the Senate of Italy.
The first session of the Senate is headed by the eldest senator. In that session, the senators-elect theStanding Bureau of theRomanian Senate. It consists of thepresident of the Senate, four vice-presidents, four secretaries, and four quaestors. The president of the Standing Bureau also serves as thepresident of the Senate. The president is elected, by secret ballot, for the duration of the legislative period.[5] The Senate president succeeds temporarily the president of Romania if the latter resigns, is suspended, incapacitated or dies in office. (The Senate president continues to be president of the Senate during the ad-interim presidency of the country and acts as president until a new president is elected).
At the start of every parliamentary session, theSenate of Barbados elects apresident and avice president, neither of whom may be ministers or parliamentary secretaries. Following Barbados' transition from aCommonwealth Realm to aRepublic in 2021, the president of the senate substitutes thePresident of Barbados when the latter is suspended during impeachment proceedings. Before theJanuary 2008 general election, the positions were held by SirFred Gollop and DamePatricia Symmonds.
Thesenate of Belize elects both a president and a vice-president upon first convening after ageneral election. The person elected president may be a senator (provided the candidate does not concurrently hold a ministerial position) or a person external to the Senate. The vice-president must be a member of the Senate who does not hold a ministerial portfolio. (Constitution, section 66.)[6]
The current[update] president isCarolyn Trench-Sandiford.
While thespeaker of the Senate of Canada, who serves as the presiding officer of theSenate of Canada, is not described as a "president" in English, the position is calledprésident du Sénat inFrench. They are appointed by the governor general on the prime minister's advice.
TheSenate of Mexico, at the beginning of each annual legislative session, elects an executive board(Mesa Directiva) from among its 128 members. The executive board comprises a president, three vice presidents, and four secretaries, elected by an absolute majority of the senators. Members of the executive board may be re-elected for the following year without restriction. The president of the executive board also serves as the president of the Senate.
The president of the Senate for the currentLXIV Legislature isAna Lilia Rivera, a formerNational Regeneration Movement (MORENA) deputy for theFederal District, and former president of MORENA.
Thepresident of the Senate of Trinidad and Tobago, who is generally elected from the government benches, chairs debates in the chamber and stands in for thecountry's president during periods of absence or illness (Constitution, section 27).[7] A vice-president of the Senate is also elected from among the senators. The current president of the Senate isNigel de Freitas.
Thevice president of the United States is assigned the responsibility ofpresiding over theSenate and designated as its president by theUnited States Constitution. The vice president, as president of the Senate, has the authority (ex officio, as they are not an elected member of the Senate) to cast a tie-breaking vote. Other than this, therules of the Senate grant its president very little power (in contrast to the powerful office ofspeaker of the House of Representatives).
While vice presidents used to regularlypreside over the Senate, modern vice presidents have done so only rarely, as the daily procedures are routine. Vice presidents usually personally preside over swearing in new senators, duringjoint sessions, announcing the result of a vote on a significant bill or confirmation, or when casting a tie-breaking vote. The Senate chooses apresident pro tempore to preside in the vice president's absence. Modern presidents pro tempore, too, rarely preside over the Senate. In practice, junior senators of the majority party typically preside over routine functions to learn Senate procedure.
Vice presidents have cast303 tie-breaking votes since theU.S. federal government was established in 1789. The vice president with the most tie-breaking votes isKamala Harris, in office from 2021 to 2025, with 33.[8]JD Vance, the current vice president, was sworn in as the new vice president and subsequently the president of the Senate on January 20th, 2025.
Instate governments of the United States, the presiding officer of thestate senate (theupper house) is a matter decided by thestate's constitution. Some states designate thelieutenant governor as president of the senate, in the same way as the vice-president, while in other states, the Senate elects its president. TheTennessee Senate elects a senator speaker of the Senate, who is given the title of lieutenant governor.
Similarly,New Hampshire has no lieutenant governor, but thestate senate elects a president who is thede facto lieutenant governor, given that in the event of the governor's death, resignation, or inability to serve, the president of the senate acts as governor until the vacancy is filled.New Jersey previously used the same system, but with the important proviso that the Senate president continued to serve in that position while also serving as acting governor. AfterChristine Todd Whitman resigned as governor,Donald DiFrancesco spent nearly a year as acting governor. As a result of his tenure, questions were raised about the propriety of such a system, particularly aboutseparation of powers–related issues. A constitutional amendment was enacted in 2005 to create the office oflieutenant governor effective at the2009 election.
Many state legislatures act almost like miniature versions of the U.S. House of Representatives and theU.S. Senate. In the Senate,JD Vance is the president of the senate. In most state legislatures, thelieutenant governor acts almost like the vice president. An example of this is in the Commonwealth ofPennsylvania: GovernorJosh Shapiro acts like a president, Lieutenant GovernorAustin Davis acts like a vice president and is the president of the Pennsylvania Senate. Both chambers of the Pennsylvania legislature also have minority and majority leaders, and a speaker of the House.
TheArgentine Senate is presided over by thevice-president of the Republic, currentlyVictoria Villaruel. This was a recent expansion of the vice-president's powers introduced as part of the1994 constitutional amendments (Constitution, Art. 57). The vice-president may only cast a vote to break a tied Senate vote.
The current[update]president of Brazil'sFederal Senate isRodrigo Pacheco.
The president of the Federal Senate is the third order to succeed the president (only below the vice president and the president of the Chamber of Deputies). It is also the president of the National Congress, which includes the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.
The president of theSenate of Chile is elected from among the country's senators. The current[update] holder of the position, since March 2020, isAdriana Muñoz.
The president of theSenate of Colombia is elected from among the country's senators. The current holder of the position, since July 2022, isRoy Barreras.
The president of the Senate is the second order to succeed the president (only below thevice president and thepresident of the Chamber of Representatives). It is also the president of Congress, which includes the Senate and the Chamber of Representatives.
Peru had a bicameral Congress from 1829 until 1992. The president of theSenate was elected by the Senate members to preside over the sessions for one year.
Thevice president of Uruguay presides over the country's 30-memberSenate.
