In politics, a vice president is a person whose primary responsibility is to replace the president on the event of his or her death, resignation or incapacity. Vice presidents are either elected jointly with the president as his or her running mate, elected separately, or appointed independently after the president’s election.

Governments with vice presidents generally have only one person in this role at any time. If the president is not present, dies, resigns, or is otherwise unable to fulfill his or her duties, the vice president will generally serve as president. In many presidential systems, the vice president does not wield much day-to-day political power, but is still considered an important member of the cabinet. Several vice presidents in the Americas hold the position of President of the Senate; this is the case, for example, in Argentina, the United States, and Uruguay. The vice president sometimes bumumes some of the ceremonial duties of the president, such as attending functions and events that the actual president may be too busy to attend; the Vice President of the United States, for example, often attends funerals of world leaders on behalf of the President. In this capacity, the vice president may thus bumume the role of a de facto symbolic head of state, a position which is lacking in a system of government where the powers of head of state and government are fused.

The vice president’s position can mean different things in different democracies. Most states with parliamentary systems do not have vice presidents, but instead name another office-holder – often the president of the upper house of parliament or even the prime minister – to act as effective vice president. However, in India, the Vice President also plays the role of the chairman of the upper house, the Rajya Sabha. In the Republic of Ireland, a collective vice presidency exists called the Presidential Commission, made up of the chairmen of both houses of the Oireachtas (parliament), along with the Irish Chief Justice. In Germany, the de facto vice president is the President of the Bundesrat (upper house of parliament), in Poland it is the Marshal of the Sejm (lower house), and in France it is the speaker of the Senate. In Italy the speaker of the Senate (de-facto upper house of Italian Parliament) bumumes the powers of President in the event of President incapacitation, but only for a short time until a new parliamentary election is hold. In Russia, the prime minister serves as de facto vice president, although he or she has much more power than the Vice President of the United States.