Republican presidential nomination process

Republican Party Presidential Primaries
results by counties
Source: Wikimedia

The next United States Presidential election will be held on 6 November 2012. This year focus is on the Republican Party presidential nomination process as President Obama has announced his intention to seek the Democratic Party presidential nomination.

The presidential candidate for the Republican Party will have to accumulate at least 1144 delegate votes out of the 2286 on offer at the various primaries and caucuses from January to June this year to win the nomination at the Republican National Convention (27–30 August 2012). The latest primary, held in Illinois, was declared on 21 March 2012, with former governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney taking the primary with 46.7 per cent of the vote bringing his delegate count to 558*. Former Senator for Pennsylvania Rick Santorum has been making an unexpected and significant showing having amassed 252* delegate votes after wining 35 per cent of the Illinois primary.