Elections turnout as an expression of the will of the people to participate in the vote

• Published in: Административное и муниципальное право no. 5; pp. 113 - 135
• Main Author: Kravchenko, Oleg Aleksandrovich
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.05.2023
• ISSN: 2454-0595; 2454-0595
• DOI: 10.7256/2454-0595.2023.5.43436

The subject of the study is the turnout of citizens to vote and the legal consequences associated with it. The problem lies in the different understanding of democracy, namely, what is meant by the majority of votes when making a political decision. There are three approaches: the decision should be considered adopted if the majority of citizens eligible to vote for it; the decision should be considered adopted if the majority of those who took part in the voting voted for it and at least fifty percent of citizens from the total number of citizens eligible to vote participated in the voting; the decision should be considered adopted if the majority of citizens who took part in the voting voted for and the percentage of citizens who voted out of the total number of citizens eligible to vote does not matter. The main conclusions of the study are: the electoral legislation distinguishes between two approaches to determining the turnout of citizens – the number of citizens who came to vote and the number of citizens who voted; the expression of will during voting can be active and silent (the silent expression of will of citizens, i.e. non-participation in voting, is not always indifferent, but can take into account the assessment of the political situation in the time of a particular vote); to determine the impact of the turnout of citizens on the reliability of determining the will of the people, first of all, it is necessary to distinguish between the actual and predicted turnout of citizens; by itself, the turnout of citizens does not affect the reliability of determining the will of the people (the reliability of determining the will of the people (the reliability of the will to make a political decision), as well as the turnout of citizens (the reliability of the will to participate in voting) is influenced by the conditions of voting, which must be guaranteed.