The principle of secret ballot under conditions of modern information technologies

About the author:

Kseniya Y. Matryonina,

Abstract:

Election is the most important tool in democratic decision making. The provision of secrecy of the ballot is the biggest problem of electronic voting. The research goal is a detailed consideration of the principle of secret suffrage of electronic voting, research of rules of secret voting. The general research methods used were as follows: comparative legal research, induction and deduction, synthesis and analysis, dialectical research. The article considers the international legislation in the area of secret suffrage (for example, Code of good practice in electoral matters). Moreover, the possible violations of secret voting are analyzed. There is a review of recent achievements in the area of defense of secret suffrage in foreign countries (Switzerland, Canada). The author proposes the protective means for secret voter's will provision. The article concludes that further development of e—voting systems is imperative, as is the elaboration and the improvement of protective mechanism of secret suffrage.

References:

1. Transcript of the Meeting with the Core of the All-Russian Political Party "United Russia" 28 May 2010. URL: http://www.kremlin.ru/transcripts/7896 (accessed 24.12.2013).

2. On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and Rights to Participate in the Referendum of Citizens of the Russian Federation: Federal Law of the Russian Federation dated June 12, 2002 № 67-FL: as of December 21, 2013 г. Sobranie zakonodatel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii — Collection of Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation. 2002. № 24. Art. 2253. (in Russian).

3. On the Referendum of the Russian Federation: Federal Constitutional Law of the Russian Federation dated June 28, 2004. № 5-FKL: as of April 24, 2008. Sobranie zakonodatel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii — Collection of Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation. 2004.

№ 27. Art. 2710. (in Russian).

4. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (adopted by the General Assembly of the UN on December 10, 1948). Rossiiskaia gazeta — The Russian Newspaper. 1995. № 67. (in Russian).

5. Convention on the Standards of Democratic Elections, Electoral Rights and Freedom

in the Participating States of the Commonwealth of Independent States (concluded in Chisinau

on October 7, 2002). Sobranie zakonodatel'stva Rossiiskoi Federatsii — Collection of Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation. 2005. № 48. Art. 4971. (in Russian).

6. Electronic voting — challenges and opportunities. Norway, Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. 2006. 153 p. URL: http://www.umic.pt/images/stories/publicacoes1/evalg_rapport_ engelsk.pdf (accessed 29.12.2013).

7. European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission). Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters. URL: http://www.mpsfc.gov.md/ file/tratate/CDL-AD%282002%29023rev-e.pdf (accessed 24.12.2013).

8. Antonov, Ia.V., Biktagirov, R.T., Ovchinnikov, V.A. Electronic Voting and Electronic Democracy: Legal Foundations of Development and Cooperation. URL: http://urist-edu.ru/

akts/25086/index.html (accessed 28.12.2013).

9. Roessler, T.G. Electronic Voting over the Internet — an E-Government Speciality. Institute for Applied Information Processing and Communications (IAIK): Faculty of Informatics Graz University of Technology, Austria. 2007. 191 p. URL: https://online.tugraz.at/tug online/voe main2.getvolltext?pCurrPk =34776 (accessed 25.12.2013).

10. Pavlushkin, A.V., Postnikov, A.E. The Legal Mechanism of Electronic Distance Voting (Analysis of a Possible Model). Zhurnal rossiiskogo prava — Journal of the Russian Law. 2009. № 11. P. 5-13. (in Russian).