September 18, 2016 held elections to the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Many called them the most "dirty", dishonest, undemocratic in history. Opposition election observers, by all possible means, recorded various throw-ups of ballots and elective roundabouts. The official CEC, on the contrary, reported that there were no violations that would strongly affect the voting process. We will not go into discussion and go into details of what and where it was. Just try to explain, and what is a democratic election? Signs, conditions, methods? What elections can be called democratic? But first things first.
Democratic elections: signs. The first condition is equality of opportunity
The first sign that distinguishes real democratic elections is equality of opportunity. Its essence is that all candidates are given an equal maximum limit on campaign costs. This should be implemented in the following ways:
- Prohibition of donations if the amount in the candidate’s fund is above the limit.
- Providing equal time on radio, television, newspapers, etc.
- Introduction of the principle of loyalty. This means that candidates should not insult each other, seek compromising evidence instead of criticizing programs and political actions.
- Compliance with the rule of independence of state bodies.
Election Campaign and Election Procedure
Democratic elections depend on the integrity and transparency of the election campaign. We list her signs below.
- First, the entire territory is divided into equal constituencies with approximate equality of population.
- Secondly, the election campaign is officially announced for a sufficient time before the election campaign. Since that time, all political parties should form an election headquarters with professional people: image makers, political scientists, sociologists, etc.
- Thirdly, the right to vote of every citizen must be ensured. It is also necessary to create a series of measures by which it is impossible to vote several times (elective "carousels").
- Fourth, there should be ballots of the so-called "Australian" type - secret, monotonous, with all the names of the candidates inside.
- Fifth, election observers from all parties should have free access to any polling station.
"Give a vote!" Or American democracy
As a rule, in almost all countries there is a voting system when all potential voters are compiled on special lists at the place of registration. If a citizen left the “native nest”, then he is automatically deleted from the list and entered where he registered.
A citizen comes to the polls, where he is already listed by the election commission.
In the United States, things are different. There, the voter must apply independently for personal registration. The territorial election commission and officials of local districts check whether a citizen has the right to vote at their polling station. Before voting, they are required to submit identification documents, place of residence and citizenship. No absentee ballots are issued there.
We agree that there can be no talk of any elective “carousel” even in theory with such a voter registration system, because a citizen has the right to vote only where he applied. These lists can be easily checked. But to track people with official absentee ballots is very problematic, as is the movement of the documents themselves, which give the right to vote at any polling station. In which case will free democratic elections be more transparent? The answer is obvious.
Multicolored American Newsletters
Also, democratic elections depend on secret ballots. Their characteristics are described below. Once the US election was very different from modern. The fact is that the parties themselves gave their ballots to the candidate who took them to the ballot box. They were different in color. Naturally, other candidates saw in their hands the color of the ballots and tried to outbid the voter.
We agree that such a system cancels secret elections. In many countries, ballots were registered, and in the USSR there were only two columns: “For” the CPSU and “Against” the CPSU. In order for the elections to be democratic and the voting to be secret, the so-called “Australian” ballot must be applied. Its features:
- Equal in size, color to all voters.
- Does not contain personal information of citizens who vote.
- All candidates are listed with the same font size. Their order is regulated by lot.
