Debate: Voting challenges in a pandemic—Poland

Musiał-Karg, Magdalena; Kapsa, Izabela

doi:10.1080/09540962.2020.1809791

Cited by 16 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…However, the most interesting group of countries are those democracies that have been weakened for the last several years, such as Hungary and Poland. These states have registered numerous violations of the democratic rules in force, e.g., in Poland this was strongly linked to the presidential elections, where the ruling party pursued its opportunistic goals ( Piontek and Ossowski, 2021 ; Musiał-Karg and Kapsa, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 and erosion of democracy

2022

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 and erosion of democracy

2022

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“…Since these requirements have not been met, the presidential election scheduled on 10th May and expected to use exclusively postal voting was not held (PKW, 2020). Moreover, the Polish government neglected basic requirements while trying to introduce all-postal voting (Musiał-Karg and Kapsa, 2020): legal and technical conditions for all-postal voting in Poland did not comply with legal requirements and democratic election principles (Zissis et al , 2012; López-Pintor, 2010), e.g. the criterion of generality (Polish citizens living in countries with lockdown could not vote) which implies equal treatment under and by the law (Buchanan and Congleton, 1998, p. 8) and secrecy (envelopes were so thin that anyone could easily read through them; Pierzgalski and Stępień, 2017; House of Commons, 2004); an unconstitutional amendment was adopted during the ongoing election process (Venice Commission, 2002); the National Electoral Commission was excluded from the electoral process; the Polish Post was engaged, although it could not provide a trusted postal service (Krimmer and Volkamer, 2007); lack of information campaign to instruct citizens about new voting solutions and procedures; non-transparent public spending; failure to implement all-postal voting within ca 2 months (it took Switzerland 30 years to test and develop postal voting; Luechinger et al , 2006; Germann and Serdült, 2017); and failure to prepare the election process in a way that does not put voters and election officers health at risk (Opinion, 2020).…”

Section: Results Of the Survey In The Context Of The Unsuccessful Electoral Reformmentioning

confidence: 99%

Postal or electronic voting? The analysis of the preferred voting methods in the context of failed electoral reform in Poland

Kapsa¹,

Musiał-Karg²

2021

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Purpose This paper aims to discuss reasons for the failure of the 2020 postal-vote election reform in Poland and examine opinions of Poles on voting methods. The main goal is to answer the following research question: Which of the alternative voting methods – postal or electronic – would Poles prefer? Design/methodology/approach The approach is quantitative and based on the statistical analysis of voters’ attitudes toward alternative voting methods, in particular postal voting. Findings The main finding is that out of all voting methods available, most Poles favor electronic voting as a potential alternative to voting in person. On a general level, the conclusions from the Polish case highlight the need to establish special requirements and standards for democratic elections during emergency situations. The unsuccessful implementation of all-postal voting in Poland is an example of how changes to the law should not be made, especially when public health and democratic standards are at stake. Practical implications The paper presents practical implications and recommendations for state authorities and electoral administration while implementing electoral reforms, extending the list of available voting channels, and running elections – especially in extraordinary situations. Originality/value This paper adds to the knowledge on alternative voting channels, including their implementation during a pandemic. The Polish case is also relevant for other countries as regards safe and democratic elections during emergency situations. Policymakers are expected to benefit from the insight, as the results originate in public opinion polls and identify voting channels favored by citizens

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“…Until recently, the electoral rules and system that provided the basis for Poland’s accession to the Council of Europe and the European Union were considered untouchable and a matter of domestic consensus. However, the outbreak of the Covid-19 epidemic, which coincided with the presidential election served as a pretext for the ruling party to attempt to hastily change the rules of the electoral process, not least by reducing the role of the non-partisan National Electoral Commission (PKW) in validating the vote and replacing traditional voting with postal ballots under circumstances that were questionable from the point of view of fairness of an electoral process (Musiał-Karg and Kapsa, 2020).…”

Section: Consolidated and Unconsolidated Democracymentioning

confidence: 99%

Postal ballot in unconsolidated democracy: Poland's case

Zaborowski

2021

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Purpose As the democratic world debates and in some cases replaces physical voting with postal ballots and on-line voting, it is important to refrain from advocating a generic approach to the issue and in particular to distinguish between consolidated and unconsolidated democracies. Design/methodology/approach The paper argues that unconsolidated democracies are not fit for the introduction of non-physical (postal ballot and on-line) voting methods, which rather than broadening the scope of democracy may in actual fact be derailing it. The key reason for this distinction is the lack of political consensus for constitutional rules, the weakness of the rule of law and persistence of parochial and subject-based political cultures in many countries of the region, including Poland. Findings Replacing physical voting with postal ballot, attempted during Presidential elections in the summer 2020 in Poland, eventually failed and was replaced with conventional physical vote. However, the Polish case demonstrates that in the system with weak checks and balances, postal ballot could be used to consolidate illiberalism not democracy. Research limitations/implications The paper demonstrates that further research on defining consolidated and unconsolidated democracy is needed. In particular there is a need to factor in the research on political culture into the definitions of democratic consolidation. Practical implications EU membership for Poland and some other Central European states – such as Hungary – failed to prompt the process of democratic consolidation. In fact the opposite happened as the impact of EU conditionality lost relevance. It is important that any change of electoral law in Poland and other rule of law violators in the region is viewed with great care and scrutiny. Originality/value The paper’s conceptual approach rests on the definition of consolidated democracy as put forward by Przeworski (1991) and developed by Linz and Stepan (1996). According to these definitions, Poland is not yet a consolidated democracy and as argued in the paper, it has actually experienced an expansion of illiberalism in recent years. The paper also posits that the concept of “consolidated democracy” should be augmented to include the existence of civic political culture as a necessary condition for the maintenance of a healthy democracy.

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Debate: Voting challenges in a pandemic—Poland

Cited by 16 publications

References 1 publication

COVID-19 and erosion of democracy

COVID-19 and erosion of democracy

Postal or electronic voting? The analysis of the preferred voting methods in the context of failed electoral reform in Poland

Postal ballot in unconsolidated democracy: Poland's case

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