ELI5 - What is the difference between a president and a prime minister?

Imagine a country is like a school. It has rules, teachers, and students. To keep things running, the school needs leaders. Different countries choose different kinds of leaders, and that is where presidents and prime ministers come in.

A president is often like the head of the school. In many countries, the president is chosen directly by the people. Everyone votes, and the winner becomes president. Because of this, the president usually has a strong personal role. They are seen as the main face of the country. When people think of the nation, they often think of the president. Presidents are usually both a leader and a symbol. They meet leaders from other countries. They give big speeches. They sign laws. In some countries, like the United States, the president also runs the government day to day. That means they help decide how laws are carried out and how the country is managed. In other countries, presidents have less power and mostly do ceremonial jobs, like attending events and signing papers.

A prime minister is more like the school’s top teacher who runs daily activities. The prime minister is usually chosen by the parliament, not directly by the people. Parliament is a group of elected representatives. These representatives pick one of their own to be prime minister. Because of this, the prime minister must keep the support of parliament to stay in power. Prime ministers focus on running the government every day. They lead meetings. They plan new laws. They manage other ministers who are in charge of things like health, schools, and transport. If parliament loses trust in the prime minister, they can remove them and choose someone else. This makes the prime minister closely tied to what parliament wants.

Some countries have both a president and a prime minister. In those places, the president is often the symbol and the prime minister does most of the real work. The president might represent the country, while the prime minister makes the big decisions with parliament. So the simple difference is this. A president is often a single leader chosen by the people and seen as the face of the country. A prime minister is chosen by parliament and runs the government day by day. Different countries choose different systems, but both roles exist to help a country stay organized and make decisions.