Current problems of electoral law before elections to local government units

In December 2017, the Sejm adopted the Act on amending certain acts in order to increase the participation of citizens in the process of selecting, operating and controlling certain public bodies. The Act introduced significant changes to the Electoral Code, including, inter alia, the structures of electoral bodies, their competences, as well as the rules and manner of voting by voters. The article presents the most important problems related to the implementation of new rules of local government electoral law in the context of the upcoming elections to local government units.

This paper provides an assessment of the possibility of maintaining the democratic quality of the electoral process held under extraordinary conditions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. This is part of the considerations on the quality of democracy and its resistance to crisis conditions. The study was conducted using Andreas Schedler’s Chain of Democratic Choice. It covers both a general perspective and a case study of the election of the President of Poland, lasting from March to May 2020 and finally and effectively interrupted only on May 6 – 4 days before the vote. The adopted perspective makes it possible to identify and assess the potential and actual threats to maintaining the democratic nature of the election process at all its stages. Possible technical solutions that may counteract the reduction of the democratic level of the election process at individual stages have also been indicated.

This article aims to analyze the use of new technologies (ICT) in the election process in Lithuania, understood as election procedures and electronic voting. While ICT is widely used in the registration of voters, calculating voting results, or announcing election results, so far, the concept of electronic voting in Lithuania raises many concerns. However, it is anticipated that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, new regulations may be adopted, and electronic voting will contribute to the modernization of election procedures and help maintain sanitary requirements in the current crisis. Based on the analysis of legal acts, reports of international organizations, and the results of academic research, the author proves that new technologies significantly affect the operation of the broadly understood electoral apparatus. They can also increase electoral accessibility and participation, improve electoral processes in the context of new challenges, and stimulate the international visibility of the state.

The aim of this paper is to outline an analysis of the codal formulation and doctrinal interpretation of the concept of electoral process in Ukraine. The author analyzes the concept of electoral process, its temporal, subjective and procedural aspects. He also presents the regulations of the Electoral Code of Ukraine on the principles of electoral process. A properly regulated electoral process is the starting point in any democratic state for holding free and fair elections with effective public scrutiny. In Ukraine, this is extraordinarily important for a number of reasons. The provisions of the Election Code passed in 2019 have never been applied in parliamentary or presidential elections to date, and therefore their evaluation is possible only from a doctrinal point of view, and the views of Ukrainian doctrine are the most significant on this issue for obvious reasons.