Electoral Laws during the COVID-19 Pandemic as a Tool of Quasi-Militant Democracies: Comparative Perspective
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Date
2023
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Brill
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Abstract
Covid-19-driven post-communist states face strong authoritarian tendencies, but also their empowered political nations efficiently act against anti-democratic actors’ actions. This study explores the use of electoral laws in Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria as a political tool and its influence on the sovereignty of the political nations. Embedded in the theory of neo- and quasi-militant democracy, it aims to explain to what extent the electoral laws adopted or proposed for adoption during the Covid-19 pandemic reduced the scope of the sovereignty of the political nations. The relationships between the legal changes and the sovereignty are analysed with qualitative source analysis and reflexive thematic analysis. As the analysis of themes across the attempts to shape the sovereignty of the political nations shows, changes to the electoral laws were introduced in a hurry, in the privacy of ministerial offices, and without social consultation. Such a way of proceeding stemmed from the need to change the law as soon as possible and thus avoid or reduce the resistance from the political opposition, other centres of public authority, and non-governmental organisations. In Poland, holding elections according to the law that was no longer in force meant that Poland became a prerogative state to an even greater extent than before. The Hungarian ruling party achieved a parliamentary majority by appropriate changes to the electoral law and holding a referendum, i.e., a classic tool for gaining support by autocratic leaders. The Romanian government could not amend the electoral law under the procedures in force in the rule of law. The attempts to undermine the sovereignty of the Romanian political nation failed. Also, the Bulgarian parliament introduced insignificant changes to the electoral law that did not influence the Bulgarian political nation’s decision-making freedom.
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Jest to manuskrypt publikacji, która ukazała się w książce: Musiał-Karg Magdalena, Kapsa Izabela (red.): Elections in Times of a Pandemic – Dilemmas and Challenges. Experiences of the European Countries, 2024, Leiden/Boston, Brill, 458 s., ISBN 9789004690561. DOI:10.1163/9789004690622.
Sponsor
This research paper is a result of the research project Civil Disorder in Pandemic-ridden European Union. It was financially supported by the National Science Centre, Poland [grant number 2021/43/ B/HS5/00290].
Keywords
Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, militant democracy
Citation
Bäcker, Roman and Joanna Rak. 2023. “Electoral Laws during the COVID-19 Pandemic as a Tool of Quasi-Militant Democracies: Comparative Perspective.” In Elections in Times of a Pandemic – Dilemmas and Challenges: Experiences of the European Countries, edited by Magdalena Musiał-Karg and Izabela Kapsa, pp. 41–55. Leiden: Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004690622_005.