Democratic elections: signs, conditions of holding

September 18, 2016 elections were held in the State Duma of the Russian Federation. Many called them the most "dirty", dishonest, undemocratic in history. Observers at the elections from opposition parties in various ways recorded various balloon flips and elective "carousels." The official CEC, on the contrary, reported that there were no violations that would have significantly affected 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 democratic elections? 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. The essence of it is that all candidates are given an equal maximum limit on the costs of campaigning. This should be implemented in the following ways:

1. Prohibition of donations if the amount in the candidate's fund is above the limit.
2. Providing equal time on radio, television, in newspapers, etc.
3. Introduction of the principle of loyalty. This means that candidates should not offend each other, seek compromising materials instead of criticizing programs and political actions.
4. Compliance with the rule of independence of state bodies.

Electoral campaign and election procedure

Democratic elections depend on the honesty and transparency of the election campaign. The signs of it are listed below.

• First, the entire territory is divided into equal electoral districts with an approximate equality of population.
• Secondly, the election campaign is officially announced for a sufficient time before the election for campaigning. Since that time, all political parties must form a pre-election headquarters with professional people: image-makers, political scientists, sociologists, etc.
• Thirdly, the right to vote for each citizen must be ensured. It is also necessary to create a series of measures that can not be voted on several times (elective "carousels").
• Fourthly, there should be ballots of the so-called "Australian" type - secret, monotonous, with all the names of candidates inside.
• Fifthly, election observers from all parties should have free access to any polling station.

"Give a vote!", Or democracy in American

As a rule, almost all countries have a voting system, when all potential voters are drafted into special lists at the place of registration. If the citizen has left the "native nest", then it is automatically deleted from the list and made there, where he registered.

A citizen comes to the polls, where he is already listed in the election commission.

In the US, things are different. There, the voter must apply independently for personal registration. The territorial election commission and officials of local okrugs check whether a citizen has the right to vote on their site. Before voting, they are required to submit identity documents, residence and citizenship. No absentee certificates are issued there.

We agree that no election "carousel" can speak even in theory under such a system of voter registration, because A citizen has the right to vote only where he applied. These lists can be easily verified. But to track people with official absentee certificates 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 bulletins in American style

Also, democratic elections depend on secret ballots. The signs of them will be described below. Once the elections in the US were very different from modern ones. The thing is that the parties themselves gave their ballots to the candidate, who placed them in the ballot box. They differed in color. Naturally, other candidates saw in their hands the color of the ballots and tried to buy out the voter.

We agree that such a system cancels secret elections. In many countries the ballots were nominal, and in the USSR there were only two columns: "For" the CPSU and "Against" the CPSU. For elections to be democratic, and secret ballot, it is necessary to apply the so-called "Australian" bulletin. Its features:

• Equal in size, color of all voters.
• Does not contain personal information of citizens who vote.
• All candidates are listed with the same font sizes. Their order is regulated by a lot.

Conclusion

We listed the main conditions under which democratic elections, signs, interesting examples from other countries are possible. Of course, in none of the countries of the world are conditions created in which the election campaign can be called a standard. In the US, for example, someone criticizes the voter registration system, some do not like the bipartisan multi-level US system, etc. The important thing is that each country chooses its own democracy, and no one has the right to decide for others.