Institutions of direct democracy in the system  of local self-government in the Republic of Belarus

Local self-government in the Republic of Belarus is an institution of constitutional law. It declares functioning of institutions of direct and indirect democracy. The aim of following paper is to describe legal aspects of institutions of direct democracy in the system of local self-government in Belarus including local referendum, local assembly and territorial social self-government. It discusses also problems in implementation of direct democracy mechanisms, relating this with the specificity of nondemocratic political regime in contemporary Belarus.

Od kilku dekad, nie tylko w Wielkiej Brytanii, obserwować można spadające zainteresowanie obywateli uczestnictwem w polityce i symptomy kryzysu demokracji przedstawicielskiej. Za jeden ze sposobów przeciwdziałania temu zjawisku uważa się wykorzystanie nowych technologii. Z jednej strony ich upowszechnienie umożliwia obywatelom szeroki dostęp do informacji, z drugiej rozszerza oferowane im możliwości udziału i wpływania na decyzje polityczne. Celem artykułu jest omówienie i analiza polityki kolejnych brytyjskich rządów dotyczącej wykorzystania Internetu do budowania skuteczniejszych kanałów komunikacji na poziomie lokalnym w Anglii i wzmocnienia demokracji. Wykorzystane metody badawcze to przede wszystkim analiza dokumentów oraz źródeł wtórnych. Szczególna uwaga została skupiona na analizie regulacji dotyczących wprowadzenia i rozwoju na poziomie lokalnym jednego z najpopularniejszych mechanizmów e-demokracji w Wielkiej Brytanii, który doczekał się regulacji ustawowej – elektronicznych petycji.

The Key Principles of Decentralization of State Power and Peculiarities of Its Realization in Conditions of Democratic Transformation: Experience of Ukraine

 In this article, we write about the key principles of decentralization of state power and peculiarities of its realization in conditions of democratic transformation (experience of Ukraine). Decentralization became a real megatrend of the XX and probably XXI centuries (at least in Ukraine). First of all because of the ever-increasing interest of people in the role of civil society and the private sector as the primary partners of the state and local self-government bodies to search for new methods, instruments and approaches to solve local issues at the level of their emergence. Decentralization as a process involves, first of all, restructuring, review of procedures and redistribution of powers to increase the competitiveness of territorial communities, to strengthen democracy and effectively address local issues at the level of their emergence. At the time of globalization, decentralization has become its foundation, as it increases the weight of local rule-making and the importance of relationships at the international, national, regional and local levels through the practical application of the principle of subsidiarity.

Normative model for the verification of municipal elections’ validity – analysis based on the jurisprudence

The democratic electoral process implies the existence of mechanisms that verify the elections’ validity. In Poland, competence in this area has been entrusted to the courts. The assessment of the elections’ validity is based on the rules deriving from the binding provisions of law. The purpose of this article is to discuss the claim that the model for verifying the validity of local elections, which is shaped by the normative regulations and the jurisprudence, is characterised by a significant, perhaps excessive, degree of restrictiveness. The rigorous provisions determine the course of interpretation thereof. In practice, it means that the presumption of elections’ validity is enhanced. This analysis of the provisions of law and selected court judgments will allow for the formulation of final conclusions regarding the current model for verification of the municipal elections’ validity.

The aim of the text is the analysis of the tasks and activities of the municipal self-government during the organization of the 2020 election of the President in Poland during the period from the beginning of February to May 10, 2020, when, due to the development of the pandemic, the process of preparing the election took a different course. The study is based on documents and five in-depth expert interviews conducted with persons associated with the organization of the elections. This publication draws attention to the lack of knowledge about various aspects of the pandemic, the protraction of the decision-making process, the lack of cooperation, and citizens’ fears.

The paper concerns the subject of the early mayoral elections at the town level in Ruda Śląska, held in September 2022. As a background for the presentation of the central case, the article refers to other earlier mayoral elections held in the same term (after the elections of 2018). The main aim of the analysis is to verify the research hypothesis that early elections of town mayors, held in Poland after 2018, confirm that application of the principle of direct elections favors candidates independent of state-wide parties. The source material for the research consisted mainly of documents of the National Electoral Commission, as well as Polish legal acts related to local electoral processes. The authors have investigated selected sources using the content analysis method. To achieve the research aim, results for particular elections were compared.

Civil Rights and Freedoms in the Light of the Idea of the „15-Minute City”

The aim of the article is to draw attention to the rights and freedoms of citizens in the light of the idea of introducing “15-minute cities”. This idea is indicated in the UN resolution of 2015, called the 2030 Agenda. 15-minute cities are referred to as smart cities or compact cities. Under the “Horizon Europe” program, 100 cities were selected as experimental cities in the pursuit of creating smart cities by 2030, including: Wrocław, Warsaw, Łódź, Rzeszów and Kraków. The assumption of the smart city is that every resident should have access to basic life needs within 15 minutes of home. By implementing the above, a new urban planning trend in cities was also created. On the basis of these considerations, an attempt was made to assess whether the changes related to the introduction of 15-minute cities will not limit the rights and freedoms of man and citizen

Local Government in the Process of Organizing General Elections During the Pandemic – The Experience of the 2020 Presidential Election in Poland

The aim of this text is to analyse the tasks and activities of the municipal government during the organisation of elections in the period after 12 May 2020, when elections were originally scheduled for, but in which no voting took place. A particular element of the context of this election was the pandemic threat. The study is based on source documents and five expert interviews conducted with people involved in the organisation of elections. The analysis focuses on two areas – the expansion of postal voting and sanitary restrictions at the polling station. This study draws attention to the increased tasks of local government and the short time for adaptation to the new legal regime.