Election Issues Research Articles

The Coming US Presidential Elections: Prospects and Challenges for Russia

The upcoming 2024 US presidential elections will have a tremendous impact on the nations’ domestic and foreign policies. The Republican and Democrat presidential nominees Donald Trump and Kamala Harris hold completely opposite views on a number of key electoral issues. One of these issues is particularly important for Russian national interests — the US involvement in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

Titik Equilibrium Bebas dari Penyebaran Hoax Pemilu Lewat Media Sosial Tiktok

Election issues are sensitive information among the society because they relate to people's survival in terms of work, economy and education. Election hoaxes where information whose truth cannot be ascertained becomes a weapon used by certain parties to bring down political opponents. Social media such as TikTok is a media that is often used to spread hoaxes because TikTok social media users come from various ages and there is no distance or time between users. In this paper, a mathematical model is presented to see how the equilibrium point is to be free from hoax based on the basic reproduction number R0. The spread of hoaxes on social media occurs if R0 > 1 and does not occur if R0 < 1. The model approach used is the SEIR mathematical model because it is seen that there are people who receive hoax videos (exposed) and then spread them without finding out the truth (infected), and users with this condition it needs to be recovered. The method used in this research is a literature review. The results obtained show that the mathematical model presented shows that the basic reproduction number R0 is zero (R0 < 1). This means that there will be no spread of election hoaxes

Party Competition Over Democracy: Democracy as Electoral Issue in Germany

Elected leaders increasingly undermine liberal democratic institutions with the support of their voters, openly challenging liberal democratic institutions in election campaigns. However, political scientists thus far have lacked the theoretical and empirical tools to study the role of elections in democratic backsliding. This article theorizes the degree to which democracy in general and liberal democracy more specifically can and should be conceptualized as valence and positional issues in multiparty electoral competitions of established liberal democracies. By investigating how German citizens and parties of the postwar period spoke about democracy per se and liberal democracy in their regional and national election manifestos, this article shows that democracy per se and liberal democracy, in particular, have been issues of different qualities in German postwar elections. While parties have used references to democracy in general as a mixed issue, showing both signs of valence and positional issues, parties’ emphasis on liberal democracy is shaped by a positional logic. Social and direct democracy have also been positional issues. Studying democracy and its various conceptions as electoral issues will help us address many important questions concerning the stability of democracies, shifting researchers’ focus to the competition of parties over citizens’ support for reforms that undermine or stabilize liberal democracy.

Gender-Bender Narratives: Radicalizing Effects of Disinformation That Threatens Gender-Normative Views

Gender norms have become a focal point of cultural debate and wedge issues in political elections, leading to discussions on how they may impact political and psychological processes and potentially radicalize individuals who feel threatened by or uncomfortable as the norms shift. We investigated the relationship between beliefs about gender-threatening disinformation narratives and radicalization, and the role of “fragile” masculinity and femininity in this relationship. In an original sample of 1,698 participants, we found that belief in gender-challenging narratives had a direct and positive relationship with radical intentions in men, whereas fragile femininity mediated the relationship between gender identity-challenging narratives and radical intentions. These suggests that threatened gender norms and disinformation are both significant factors in the psychology of radicalization.

Desiring Omelette Not Breaking the Egg: Democracy, Elections and Good Governance in Africa

The quest for good governance, development, and good life for the people which African leaders hoped will be propelled by democracy prompted them to embrace western liberal democracy However, the objective condition in many African countries reveals fundamental gap between expectations and the realities. In line with these actualities, this paper examines the differences between Africans desire for democracy and the attendant expectations and the present reality and reasons for the chasm. It examines election and electoral issues as factors in democracy and good governance. In doing this, the paper adopts content analysis of data gathered essentially from secondary sources and adopts good governance theory. The paper contends that although African leaders and people are desirous of good governance and has put in place democratic structures expected to achieve good governance, these democratic institutions, and structures; the contents and processes have not vivified good governance. It argues that the challenges of democracy and good governance in many African countries are poor election and electoral system. This is because the democratic structures and the manner of conduct of elections characterized by corruption, violence, lack of adequate ideological depth on the part of political parties and service-oriented approach to politics, personalization of, and under-performing institutions among other factors negate the principles of democracy and cannot produce good leadership and good governance. The paper concludes that though multi-party elections have been held in many countries in Africa since 1990, the quality of these elections for the advancement of democracy and by extension good governance has generated concerns and query the sense of optimism for multi-party elections. It therefore argues that for African countries to achieve the desirous goals and benefits of democracy, good governance and development, elections must be free, fair, and conducted regularly. Also, political parties and democratic institutions and structures must be adequately strengthened to function properly.

Analysis of the Agenda Setting Strategy Applied by Narasi TV’s Creative Team towards the 2024 Presidential and Vice-Presidential Election Issue through Musyawarah Program

Indonesia is carrying out the General Election Agenda for the President and Vice President, which is held every five years, and 2024 is an election year in which the Indonesian people will choose their leader. As a result, it is clear that election coverage dominates program content and news from the mass media, particularly television. Narasi TV also reported on these electoral issues by airing the Musyawarah show, a special program about the 2024 presidential election. Based on this, the study’s goals are to evaluate the role of Narasi TV’s creative team in shaping the media agenda for the 2024 presidential election, as well as to determine what Narasi TV and the creative team anticipate from the public through the Musyawarah program. The research method used in this article is a qualitative research method, specifically the descriptive-qualitative method, with a focus on data from literature reviews and various references to analyze how the Narasi TV creative team applies the Agenda Setting theory to the issue of the 2024 presidential election through the Musyawarah program. The results showed that Narasi TV’s media agenda on the issue of the 2024 presidential election is as follows: the existence of a special program on the issue of the 2024 presidential election, namely the Musyawarah program; and the creative team’s media agenda for the Musyawarah program, with an effort to raise issues around the 2024 presidential election that are frequently disregarded or neglected despite being less significant than other mass media.

The Constitutional Court’s Protection and Fulfilment of the Citizens’ Rights: Constitutional and Islamic Law Perspectives

This study aims to examine the degree to which the Constitutional Rights of Indonesian Citizens are maintained by the state, specifically focusing on democratic Public Elections (Pemilu) and Public Elections for Regional Heads (Pemilukada). This study centers on the advancement of the political democratic process, particularly concerning law enforcement and the safeguarding of human rights. This analysis focuses on the implementation of these features by the Constitutional Court (Mahkamah Konstitusi), which has the responsibility of handling post-conflict public election issues. This study utilizes empirical legal methodologies, employing a framework that combines the constitutional law and the Islamic law. The data was acquired through in-depth interviews and a meticulous examination of pertinent literature. The participants were experts in the domains of the constitutional law and the Islamic law. This paper argues that the state has successfully protected the legal rights of citizens by incorporating them into laws, so fulfilling their constitutional privileges. Constitutional rights refer to essential human rights, particularly the right to engage in the democratic process through voting or candidacy in public elections. In the Indonesian state administration system, citizens have the privilege to report any election matters to the appropriate authorities and have it lawfully resolved by the Constitutional Court Institution. The Islamic law supports the harmonization of law enforcement and the protection of citizens' rights within the context of human rights. In Aceh, a region that implements special autonomy and the Islamic law, there is no prejudice against the rights of individuals based on their gender or religion. Under the Islamic law, voting or running for office is regarded as a right rather than an obligation. However, participating in the act of voting is highly valued as it provides benefits and serves as a preventive measure against damage.

A Contemporary Approach to Designing and Implementing Electronic Voting Systems (EVS)

This study delves into the potential of Electronic Voting Systems (EVS) in Ghana, to enhance transparent and trustworthy electoral processes. We presented a comprehensive framework highlighting trust, diaspora engagement, and human factors in voting. The study proposes a robust EVS framework for Ghana, emphasizing trust and accountability, preventing electoral fraud, and encouraging African governments to invest in IT and collaborate with experts in e-government and e-voting systems. We commence with a detailed systems analysis, identifying specific electoral challenges in Ghana. An artifact is designed and developed, and the artifact's effectiveness is demonstrated through Design Science Research Methodology (DSRM). We evaluated its alignment with the desired solution for Ghana's electoral issues. We emphasize the potential of EVS to address electoral challenges in Ghana and underscore the importance of proactive government policies, IT investments, and collaboration with IT experts. User acceptance testing achieved a remarkable 98% approval rate, showcasing the feasibility of implementing EVS at the national level. This research underlines the pivotal role of EVS in Ghana and advocates for visionary government policies and investments in IT. These measures can modernize electoral systems, align them with international standards, and promote democratic progress while preventing electoral fraud in Ghana and other African nations to avoid condemnation and punishment of unconstitutional transfers of power that are being challenged by meticulously planned takeovers.

The Application of Geographic Information System in Analysing the Voting Patterns among Dayak Voters in the Sarawak State Elections of 2016 and 2021

Geographic information system (GIS) and election-related research focuses on the geographical characteristics of election boundaries, the election information management system and the application of GIS analysis to election boundaries. This article aims to acquire a deeper understanding of the issues affecting Dayak voters during the state elections of 2016 and 2021, geographically. This study employs three spatial analyses: Thematic Map-Density, Spatial Autocorrelation Moran’s I Index and Hot Spot Analysis (Getis-Ord Gi*). In select constituencies with a Dayak-majority, interviews and observations supplemented the spatial data. This article examines Dayak-majority constituencies’ geographical distribution and spatial concentration in the 2016 and 2021 elections. It demonstrates that there are significant differences in the density of voter participation, majorities obtained by candidates, and total votes cast by the electorate across the state in both state elections, confirming the assertion made by researchers of electoral politics in Sarawak that election issues are primarily location-specific and that understanding the problems faced by communities at the local level is essential. It is anticipated that the outcome of this study will aid in providing a spatial overview and projection of state election results and in strategising the future management of state elections.

Trans Bans Expand: Anti-LGBTIQ+ Lawfare and Neo-fascism

Abstract Introduction Anti-fascist theories suggest different meanings for anti-LGBTIQ+ rights laws. This paper explores how 2023 increases in US anti-LGBTIQ+ bill attempts can be explained. Methods A Critical Discourse Analysis of 1054 US anti-LGBTIQ+ state-level bill submissions from 1 Jan 2018 to 31 December 2023, compared 2023 trends to previous data. Results The co-ordinated neofascist mobilisation behind US hyper-productivity and erratic contradictory justifications of anti-LGBTIQ+ bills expanded exponentially, emphasising less resisted campaigns. Initially smaller bills targeted political weak spots: transgender youth in primary schools, bathrooms and politically enabling Republican-governed states. Increasingly bills expanded in number, frequency, size, and punitive reach against LGBTIQ+ and other citizens’ rights, in wider contexts (higher education, public and Democrat-governed spaces). By 2023, bill strategies used hypocritical and hypothetical anti-LGBTIQ+ logics; replicated federally to thwart democratic and economic structures. Conclusions Anti-fascist, Queer and critical socialist theories explained the 2023 bills’ increase as building upon past partisan mobilisation on wedge transgender state election issues; towards neofascist diminishment of increasingly wider-ranging and higher-level US democratic structures, rights protections, and economic functioning. Policy attacks on vulnerable social groups’ rights — particularly trans youth — can signal ‘early stages’ within neo-fascist strong-man state-identity creation supporting democratic structure diminishments. Policy Implications Multi-level multi-cultural pluralist democratic institutions and support structures with inter-reinforced rights recognition expansions should be required by and should protect the rights of all citizens.

A Model of Election Supervision Based on Village Judicial Institutions; A Review of Legal Anthropology in Madura

The General Election Law has placed villages at the forefront of the election monitoring system by establishing Village Panwaslu. However, it still needs to be fully able to unravel the complexity of the election monitoring system. This study aims to strengthen the election supervision system so that all electoral issues can be resolved at the village level. This research uses normative legal research methods that focus on the reconstruction and institutionalization of the election supervision system at the village level through the synergy of village judicial institutions. The result of the research is that the design of election supervision at the village level, which only places one member, has yet to resolve the many burdens of election supervision fully. Although Article 448 paragraph (3) of the Election Law authorizes the community to monitor actively, it has proven not optimal because there is no clear legal protection for the participatory monitoring system. The weakness of the monitoring system can be strengthened through 1) The establishment of Village Panwaslu members that involve village judicial institutions consisting of Babinkantibmas, Babinsa, and community leaders; 2) Expanding the authority of the Village Panwaslu to resolve disputes over the election process at the village level.

Controverted Elections, Electoral Controversy and the Scottish Privy Council, 1689–1708*

AbstractBoth the privy council and elections in early modern Scotland are understudied. The council itself has largely been described as a tool for crown management of elections. But it was fundamentally a court and standing committee charged with government administration, which was often supplicated to deal with cases of electoral impropriety and controversy. As elections became increasingly contested throughout the later 17th century, so the council's role developed into a form of elections committee which adjudicated over controverted elections. This, in some ways, reflected the business conducted by parliament's own elections committee, although the council was largely concerned with elections in the royal burghs while it also dealt with other electoral issues. This article explores the privy council's engagement in a complex range of electoral business between the Revolution of 1689 and its abolition in 1708.

Конституционное регулирование выборов: сравнительный анализ коэффициента заинтересованности законодателя (на примере Российской Федерации и стран ближнего зарубежья)

The article deals with the problem of constitutional regulation of elections. Using the example of the analysis of articles of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and constitutions of a number of neighboring countries, the author's methodology for determining the degree of interest of the creators of the constitution in election issues is shown. This technique consists in calculating the coefficient of interest of the legislator (CIL). The coefficient of interest of the legislator means the share of norms regulating elections in the total number of prescriptions contained in the text of the constitution. The article makes calculations on two grounds. The first calculation is made taking into account the total number of articles of each constitution and articles devoted to elections. For the second calculation, not the articles are taken into account, but the parts into which the articles of the constitution are divided. It is established that the share of articles related to elections in the constitutions of the countries of the studied region is on average about 1/10 of the text. The most significant share — 17.31% of articles are articles about elections in the Constitution of Belarus, while in the Constitution of Estonia this share is almost three times less. It is proved that the author's method of determining the coefficient of interest of the legislator can be useful in the context of formal legal and comparative legal analysis of normative legal acts of different scope and orientation.

The Anglophone Crisis and Low Voter Turnout in Anglophone Cameroon in the 2018 Presidential Elections

The international political system has radically changed in the last three decade. During this era the global political system has witnessed the enfranchisement of more voters across geographical, racial and socio-economic boundaries than ever before. With the growing trend of democracy, voter turnouts keep fluctuating. Since the return of multiparty elections in 1990, Cameroon has been experiencing a downward trend in voter turnout. With voter apathy being on the rise in Cameroon, the 2018 Presidential elections were no different nationally, but it was more glaring in the Anglophone regions with extremely low turnout. The presidential elections coincided with the onset of the Cameroonian civil war in Anglophone Cameroon, with separatist fighters and the Cameroon government forces fighting over the self-determination and political future of Anglophone Cameroon. This study sought to ascertain the link between the Anglophone crisis and the low voter turnout in the Anglophone regions. The study relied on both primary and secondary data sources. Primary data sources will mainly be gotten through telephone interviews and personal observations. Secondary data from books, journal article, newspapers, reports and possible interviews on election issues in Cameroon. Findings show that the Anglophone crisis and separatist threats played a role in low voter turnout, alongside voting age and voter disillusionment. The low voter turnout in the Anglophone regions creates a question of legitimacy of those elections and it is recommended that a resolution of the conflict would help improve the situation of voter apathy in Anglophone Cameroon ahead of the upcoming 2025 Presidential and 2026 Municipal and parliamentary Elections.

Intraparty Republican Factionalism as Identity in the Modern American South

Party factions are central to our understanding of American politics, but what role do party factions play within the electorate? With an August 2022 survey of the American South, we investigate factions within the modern GOP. We find evidence that faction identities overlap, as most Republicans hold some degree of identification with multiple factions. We also employ multivariate analyses to show that, despite evidence of overlap, Make America Great Again (MAGA) identifiers hold distinguishable opinions on President Trump and a variety of election issues. This research demonstrates the importance of factions within the southern Republican electorate and argues that factions can be an identity, representing a new way to conceive of intraparty factions in American politics.

Decomposed Impact of Democracy on Indonesia’s Economic Growth

Indonesia's democratic performance is still classified as a 'moderate' and 'flawed democracy' according to the latest report, even though the ongoing progress of national democracy continues to advance every year. This study addresses the issue by offering a more comprehensive perspective and distinguishes itself by employing a decomposition approach that incorporates 25 indicators of the Indonesian democracy index to assess their individual effects on economic growth, which no prior Indonesian study has explored. The study classifies these indicators into six distinct categories: freedom and civil rights issues, discrimination issues, political and electoral issues, social and cultural issues, law and justice issues, and demonstration and community participation issues. The findings reveal that five out of the six categorized indicators have a crucial role and significantly impact economic growth. This evidence suggests that policymakers should prioritize a multifaceted approach, which includes bolstering the protection of civil rights and freedoms, combating discrimination, as well as reforming electoral and political processes. If implemented with transparency and inclusivity, this approach can pave the way for a more robust and prosperous democracy, leading to better and sustainable economic growth in Indonesia.

The communist imaginary in Indonesia’s 2014 and 2019 presidential elections

ABSTRACT This article investigates rumours of a communist resurgence as a recurring theme invoked in Indonesian politics. In both the 2014 and 2019 presidential contests, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) was accused of being a PKI (Communist Party of Indonesia) adherent, and a false narrative that he was the ‘communists’ candidate’ persisted throughout the campaigns. Despite the PKI having been banned and effectively defunct since 1966, large amounts of political disinformation that centred on its rebirth and the threat from communists dominated media narratives. The attack was expanded to include many key figures, including political elites and Jokowi’s allies and sympathizers. Using interviews with elite individuals and documentary research, this article argues that the ‘communist imaginary’ was deployed by campaign managers in the elections through the exploitation of constant anxieties regarding perceived villains. Furthermore, it has also been used as an excuse for military, as well as paramilitary factions, to grab greater power within the electoral context, as evidenced by their aggressive speeches and actions. The rumour of a communist threat, I will argue, provides a simple, effective way to distract the public from actual electoral issues.

Tendency in Indonesian Newspaper Editorials: Genre and APPRAISAL Studies

Editorial is an important part of newspapers since the opinions expressed can influence the reader's point of view. The two major Indonesian news media that publish editorials in their newspapers are Kompas and Tempo. This study explores the potential differences in editorial characters between Kompas and Tempo regarding the 2024 election issue. To achieve this goal, the organizational structure of editorial texts is examined and their attitudinal tendencies are investigated. The method used in this study is analytical discourse framework by Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) in particular genre (Iedema, et al., 1994) and APPRAISAL framework (Martin White, 2005). Based on the findings of genre and APPRAISAL in the text, it is revealed that the editorials of Tempo tend to be explicit in showing their position against 2024 election issues. Tempo uses the genre of media exposition and built their attitudinal tendencies by using negative evaluations. Unlike Tempo, Kompas tends to be implicit in showing their position against the said issue. They adopted media discussion genre and their attitudinal tendency is built using positive evaluations. The results of this study reveal that in examining the character of a media, an analysis of editorial text genres needs to be carried out before investigating its attitudinal tendencies.Keywords: APPRAISAL, genre, discourse analysis, newspaper, editorial

Another path to electoral reform: Cohort replacement and electoral issues for rule changes in Japan

AbstractThe literature of electoral reform explains politicians' preferences and social forces such as working‐class power or expansions of the suffrage are the major factors that bring about a change in electoral rules. However, we argue that generational replacement and electoral issue effects lead politicians to introduce a new electoral system for their electoral survival in future. By examining Japan's surveys for pre‐ and postreform elections, we show that the entrance of new generation and salient issue concerns dissolve electoral bases of political parties and finally give rise to a change in the rules of the game for the greater electoral stability that political elites desire.

Prehistory of electoral sociology in pre-revolutionary Russia: an experience of interdisciplinary analysis

The article discusses the process of the emergence of socio-electoral research in pre-revolutionary Russia at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. Using an interdisciplinary approach, the authors make an attempt to link the emergence of scientific interest in understanding the phenomenon of electoral behaviour with the study of the institution of elections in related scientific disciplines – jurisprudence and political science. It is concluded that the practice of this kind of research led representatives of these sciences to formulate the problem of electoral choice, that was rather difficult to solve within the framework of traditional methodological directions. The appeal to sociological approaches of the theoretical and empirical levels made it possible to advance in the study of electoral issues and led researchers to the idea of separating its part into the area of special scientific research. The main stages of the formation of socio-electoral research are analysed: from the first attempts to study electoral behaviour in order to solve legal and political problems in the aspect of understanding the institution of elections to the emergence of the idea of creating a special sociological discipline, within which the phenomenon of electoral choice should be considered. The heuristic guesses of scientists of pre-revolutionary Russia are highlighted, that anticipated a number of research areas in the electoral sociology of the twentieth century. The methods of empirical electoral research, that were first tested in the practice of scientific and sociological work, are analysed. It is noted that neither the level of development of the institution of elections, nor the level of scientific methodology and methods of sociological research in pre-revolutionary Russia contributed to the formation of a special scientific discipline - electoral sociology, and subsequent political events in the country blocked this process for a long historical time.