Вибори як об’єкт та інструмент гібридної війни

Abstract

The article examines the problem of elections as an object and tool in modern hybrid conflicts. The authors emphasize that in the context of information technology development and globalization, elections are becoming one of the main targets in the implementation of hybrid aggression, due to the relative cheapness and effectiveness of such technology. It is shown that by interfering in the electoral process of democratic countries of the world, the hybrid aggressor promotes the coming to power (or, conversely, defeat) of the necessary political forces and, accordingly, neutralizes its opponents. The main forms of foreign interference in the electoral process are revealed: support of candidates or political parties beneficial to the aggressor state in order to further use them to destabilize the victim country, or to increase influence on the situation in the country that has become the object of a hybrid warfare; influence on certain categories of the population living in the victim state, in order to push them to vote for the politicians needed by the aggressor; information propaganda by the aggressor state aimed at discrediting the institution of elections and its results in a country that has become the object of a hybrid warfare; use of the institution of international election observation to achieve the goals of hybrid warfare; direct cyberattacks on electronic and communication systems used in the victim state to organize elections and count votes. Emphasis is placed on the fact that in the conditions of hybrid Russian aggression, the institution of elections in Ukraine is one of the potential objects of hybrid intervention by Russia. Therefore, an important condition for preserving the democracy of elections, the socio-political system and the sovereignty of our state in general is to ensure reliable protection of the institution of elections from foreign interference.