US election 2024: Candidates, dates, how the president is elected and all you need to know

Donald Trump and Joe Biden on track to face off in the polls again

Election day is on November 5. AP

The countdown to the US presidential elections is under way.

US President Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump have reached the required number of delegates to be eligible for their parties' nominations ahead of election day on November 5.

The National takes a look at the major players and important dates in this year's presidential election:

US presidential election candidates

Joe Biden: The current US President is running for re-election after winning against Mr Trump in 2020.

The Democrat entered the Oval Office after a pro-Trump insurrection attempt at the US Capitol, and led the country out of the worst of the coronavirus pandemic and the accompanying economic fallout.

The oldest president in US history, Mr Biden, 81, is facing mounting challenges over his age and mental competency, as well as backlash over his administration's handling of support to Israel during the war in Gaza.

Donald Trump: The former president, now a convicted criminal, is making his third bid for the White House.

Trump, the leading Republican candidate, is facing more than 50 other charges across several court cases. He has been accused of mishandling classified documents and leading a conspiracy to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Now 78 years old, he also faces concerns about age from voters, but the focus has been on his anti-democratic aims: he has pledged to be a dictator on “day one” if elected.

Which candidates have dropped out?

In the Republican Party: The party originally had a crowded campaign field, although no candidate posed much of a challenge to Trump.

The leading candidates against Trump were former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who both dropped out in early 2024. They were awarded 97 and nine delegates, respectively.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy had three delegates, although he also pulled out of the race.

In the Democratic Party: Mr Biden not had no major competition throughout the campaign.

The only candidates to have gained delegates is entrepreneur Jason Palmer and Minnesota Representative Dean Phillips, with three and five delegates, respectively.

Author Marianne Williamson is also running, but she has not won any delegates.

Mr Biden is still facing challenges in his party, with a small but vocal movement encouraging Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in the primaries in response to the President's support for Israel during the war in Gaza.

The uncommitted vote has been awarded 36 delegates.

Who is running on third-party tickets?

For the Independent Party: Lawyer Robert F Kennedy, a nephew of former president John F Kennedy, is running for office, with his campaign focused on anti-vaccine activism.

Ivy League professor and academic Cornel West is also running as a progressive.

For the Green Party: Jill Stein, who ran for president in 2012 and 2016, is running for her party's nomination again.

What is a party convention and when are they?

A party convention is when delegates from every US state and territory formally submit their votes to nominate a candidate to represent the party in the presidential election.

Conventions often feature speeches by party leaders and the candidates.

• The Republican National Convention will take place July 15 to 18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• The Democratic National Convention will take place August 19 to 22 in Chicago, Illinois.

When are the presidential debates?

Two debates between the two major party candidates will take place this election season.

• The first presidential debate is scheduled for June 27, hosted by CNN at its studios in Atlanta, Georgia.
• The vice presidential debate is expected to be in July or August, hosted by CBS.
• The second presidential debate is scheduled for September 10, hosted by ABC.

Normally, the debates are held at universities after the party conventions and organised by the Commission on Presidential Debates, a bipartisan nonprofit group.

However, both the Biden and Trump campaigns opted out of that long-standing tradition, citing issues they had with scheduling and with the commission.

They instead co-ordinated their own debates with television networks on the basis of rules and formats they agreed on – no audiences, enforcing time limits on questions, and holding them earlier because of early voting.

When is the US election?

Election day is on November 5.

What is the Electoral College?

The US President is not elected by popular vote, but rather by a majority of electors, in a unique system called the Electoral College.

Each state has a specific number of electors based on the census, depending on the number of senators and congressional districts.

What does a candidate need to win?

A presidential candidate needs the support of 270 out of 538 electors in the Electoral College.

When is the certification of the election?

After the electors hold meetings in their states and send in formal certifications, members of Congress meet at the Capitol in Washington to certify the results on January 6, 2025.

When is the inauguration?

Inauguration day is on January 20, 2025.