PRINCIPLES OF ELECTORAL LAW: INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

Abstract

The electoral process is fundamental to a country's democracy, as it allows citizens to express their will through voting. This activity is governed by a set of administrative rules that regulate each stage, ensuring the fairness and transparency of the process. The principles of the electoral process are the basic provisions on the basis of which electoral campaigns should be conducted and compliance with which is a guarantee to ensure the exercise of the principles of the electoral rights of citizens. The principles of law play a special role for the legal system as a whole, a branch of law or an institution of law. It can be observed that the formative principles of electoral legislation are fully consistent with the word "democracy", since its existence requires the will of the people. The electoral principles underlie the adoption by the legislators of measures to curb such acts and thus ensure that those elected by the people enjoy the legitimacy to govern the nation, thus making true democracy effective. Electoral legislation is built around a set of principles that guide the application of the rules and guarantee the fairness and justice of the process. These principles, which underpin the democratic game, aim to ensure equality of opportunity between candidates, the free expression of the will of the voter and the legitimacy of the election of representatives. Electoral law is one of the areas of law in which there is traditionally a certain set of universally recognized basic principles. In addition to the doctrinal recognition, these principles are enshrined in the constitutions and electoral legislation of many states and in international legal instruments. Analysing the traditional principles of electoral law, the author argues that there are different opinions in the legal literature on their classification, dividing them into fundamental and additional ones according to the importance of their impact on the electoral process. The basic principles include the classical principles of electoral law: universality, equality, direct or indirect voting and secrecy of the vote. The additional principles include: accountability of deputies to voters, including their early recall, ensuring proportional representation in public authorities, conducting elections by election commissions, the principle of absolute or relative majority of votes, equality/equal opportunities for candidates in the process of pre-election competition.