Lebanon

Includes all relevant information on national elections held in Kiribati since its independence in 1979. Part I gives a comprehensive overview of Kiribati's political history, outlines the evolution of electoral provisions, and presents the current electoral legislation in a standardized manner (suffrage, elected institutions, nomination of candidates, electoral system, organizational context of elections). Part II includes exhaustive electoral statistics in systematic tables (numbers of registered voters, votes cast, the votes for candidates and/or parties in parliamentary and presidential elections and referendums, the electoral participation of political parties, the distribution of parliamentary seats, etc.).

Includes all relevant information on national elections held in Japan since 1946. Part I gives a comprehensive overview of Japan's political history, outlines the evolution of electoral provisions, and presents the current electoral legislation in a standardized manner (suffrage, elected institutions, nomination of candidates, electoral system, organizational context of elections). Part II includes exhaustive electoral statistics in systematic tables (numbers of registered voters, votes cast, the votes for parties in parliamentary elections, the electoral participation of political parties, the distribution of parliamentary seats, etc.).

Includes all relevant information on national elections held in Fiji since its independence in 1970. Part I gives a comprehensive overview of Fijian political history, outlines the evolution of electoral provisions, and presents the current electoral legislation in a standardized manner (suffrage, elected institutions, nomination of candidates, electoral system, organizational context of elections). Part II includes exhaustive electoral statistics in systematic tables (numbers of registered voters, votes cast, the votes for parties in parliamentary elections at both the national level and according to ethnic group, the electoral participation of political parties, the distribution of parliamentary seats, etc.).

Includes all relevant information on national elections held in Kuwait since 1961. Part I gives a comprehensive overview of Kuwait's political history, outlines the evolution of electoral provisions, and presents the current electoral legislation in a standardized manner (suffrage, elected institutions, nomination of candidates, electoral system, organizational context of elections). Part II includes exhaustive electoral statistics in systematic tables (numbers of registered voters, votes cast, the electoral participation of political parties, the distribution of parliamentary seats, etc.).

Includes all relevant information on national elections and referendums held in Afghanistan since 1923. Part I gives a comprehensive overview of Afghanistan's political history and outlines the evolution of electoral provisions in a standardized manner (suffrage, elected institutions, nomination of candidates, electoral system, organizational context of elections). Part II includes available electoral statistics in systematic tables (numbers of registered voters, votes cast, the electoral participation of political parties, the distribution of parliamentary seats, etc.).

Includes all relevant information on national elections held in the People's Republic of China since 1949. A comprehensive overview of Chinese political history is given. The chapter outlines the evolution of electoral provisions and presents the current electoral legislation in a standardized manner (suffrage, elected institutions, nomination of candidates, electoral system, organizational context of elections).

This paper attempted to demonstrate that a rational voter model as derived by Barzel and Silberberg (1973) can be used (with modifications) to explain third party voting in presidential elections. The empirical findings strongly suggest that the rational voter model is applicable in explaining third party voting. This conclusion likewise suggests that people who vote for third parties do so under similar motivations as people who vote for the major parties. Thus, people do not appear to regard votes for third parties as wasted votes or engage in the voting process in an irrational fashion. Lastly, votes for third parties represent the transmission of individual preferences by people who believe that their vote is important and that in the aggregate their signal may be interpreted as a signal to alter the direction of current policies as run by the major parties. Therefore, it does not appear from the evidence presented here that we should distinguish between or treat differently voting participation for the major parties versus the minor or third parties in presidential elections.

As an index case of Third-Wave democracies facing existential threat, Taiwan's elections entail important implications for study in comparative politics and international relations. In 2008, three important elections help define the course of Taiwan's democratic development and its relationship with China: the January legislative election, the March presidential election, and a controversial referendum on Taiwan's United Nations entry. This article employs theory to analyze the impact of Taiwan's 2008 elections on cross-strait relations. It develops an game by examining each principal player's preferences regarding each election. It analyzes Beijing's possible reaction to the potential outcomes, and then examines the actual election outcomes against the model and offers observations on the prospect of cross-strait relations. Overall, the model predicts that cross-strait relations after the 2008 elections will present a historic opportunity, which can be seized or squandered, depending on political leadership. Key words: China-Taiwan relations, Democracy - East Asia, East Asian politics Introduction: The Internal-External Nexus The year 2008 marks a turning point in Taiwan's democratic political development and cross-strait relations. A key reason for this prospect is the momentous elections that took place in this year. On January 12, a parliamentary election was conducted under a new, mixed electoral system that selected candidates from single-member districts (SMDs) through the firstpast- the-post (FPTP) method and from lists nominated by political parties. Taking the so-called Duverger's Law (i.e., that a correlation exists between the plurality method and a two-party system) 1 at its face value and hoping to emulate other states that have adopted a mixed electoral system (e.g., Japan),2 many analysts hoped this new electoral system would contribute to a more healthy electoral competition between the two centrist parties, the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). They also hoped this new system would reduce the influence of fringe candidates and money politics that became somewhat common under the old system of single non-transferable vote (SNTV) in multi-member districts (MMDs). On March 22, 2008, the presidential election, featuring the KMT's and the DPP's former chairmen, decided whether Taiwan's voters wanted a leader who will solidify the Taiwan or one who promises to improve the economy and ease crossstrait relations. That the identity issue became a key issue in these elections,3 as it had been in recent years, was an important reason why Taiwan's elections entail implications for its external relations, particularly vis-a-vis China and the United States, and for regional stability.4 The electoral link between Taiwan's domestic politics and its external relations was further accentuated by the two referenda regarding the issue of Taiwan's entry into the United Nations that were conducted on the same day as the presidential election. The DPP-sponsored referendum called for the country's entry into the UN under the name Taiwan. Not to be outdone by the DPP, the KMT sponsored a referendum calling for the country's return to the UN under flexible means. Various powers opposed the DPP's UN referendum, most significantly the United States, Taiwan's chief security backer.5 Chinese officials expressed their concerns that crossstrait relations during the lead-up to the March 2008 presidential elections might enter a high danger period. Passage of DPP's UN referendum would constitute a step toward a declaration of de jure independence of Taiwan.6 For China, such a declaration would be considered a major incident as defined in its Anti- Secession Law (ASL), and would call for a response using non- peaceful means.7 The United States, while stating that it did not oppose Taiwan's holding referenda, tried hard but to no avail to dissuade the DPP government from conducting the most controversial UN referendum, and, failing that, to appeal directly to voters. …

This paper examines the determinants of financial flows between the federal government and regional authorities in Russia. The main question is to what extent intergovernmental transfers correspond to the ‘ideal pattern’ – equalisation of the abilities of the regions to provide public goods – and to what extent, if at all, they reflect the influence of federal–regional political discourse (asymmetrical federalism). The main finding is that actual net transfers since 1994, although quite close to the ‘ideal patterns’, depended also on the results of the parliamentary (1993, 1995, 1999) and presidential (1996, 2000) elections and on the relations of the regions with the federal centre. The more votes cast for pro-central government parties in parliamentary elections and for Yeltsin in the 1996 presidential elections and the lower the tensions with Moscow after the elections, the more favourable was the fiscal balance for the region with the federal centre. The result is very robust when using different measures of fiscal capacity (index of tax potential) and costs of providing public goods (budgetary expenditure adjustment index).

The article considers the issue of holding local elections on the example of one of the regions of Ukraine - Poltava region. The research hypothesis is based on the study of the dynamics of party representation in local governments of Poltava region as a central, iconic region to study the evolution of electoral sympathies and features of party building from the standpoint of public administration science. The author conducted a comparative analysis of the electoral preferences of Poltava residents in the local elections in terms of political parties and their dynamics in accordance with the 2015 elections. The development of democratic processes is directly dependent on the mechanisms and procedures for both local and parliamentary elections - the extent to which electoral law allows the majority of voters to understand the wide variety of political parties and candidates, allows opinion leaders to participate in elections. It is pointed out that there is a certain regrouping («political mimicry») of some political parties in the country, as a reestablishment of the «old political elite» and a campaign for local elections in a new composition and with a new name. The article focuses on strengthening the role of regionally influenced political parties in local elections. They allowed the local political elite to be more independent of all-Ukrainian parliamentary parties. Attention is drawn to local political party projects led by charismatic or financially influential politicians. It is noted that the local elections in 2020 continued the positive dynamics of change - from the previous convocation, only a quarter of people entered the Poltava Regional Council, and its membership was renewed by almost 70%. The dominance of the post-Soviet communist and Komsomol elites in the region, which were characterized by exceptional unity, is disappearing, although they retain some of their political electoral influence in the region. It is pointed out the need to further improve the provisions of the Electoral Code where it is necessary to lay down the principle of fairness in the distribution of seats on the main electoral list in accordance with the electoral rating of candidates.

The Secure Online Voting Management System with Authentication is a web-based application developed to conduct elections in a secure, transparent, and efficient manner. Traditional voting systems require physical presence at polling stations and manual verification of voters, which can lead to delays, human errors, and logistical challenges. The proposed system provides a digital platform where registered voters can cast their votes remotely through the internet using secure authentication mechanisms. The system uses Aadhaar number verification, OTP-based authentication, and voter ID validation to ensure that only authorized voters can participate in the election process. The application is developed using modern web technologies such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Node.js, and SQL database. It includes modules for voter registration, candidate or party management, vote casting, election monitoring, and automatic result generation. The proposed platform reduces manual work, prevents duplicate voting, and improves transparency in the election process. Realtime vote counting and automated result generation allow administrators to monitor election activities efficiently. By integrating secure authentication and structured database management, the system ensures reliability, scalability, and data security. The implementation demonstrates how modern web technologies can improve accessibility and efficiency in digital voting systems.

We analysed the determinants of voter participation (turnout), impairment of voter participation (spoiled or rejected ballots), and the outcomes (share of the total valid votes cast garnered by the victorious political party) in national presidential elections during the Fourth Republican era in Ghana. This analysis was undertaken based on meso-level statistical models, using district-level data of voters compiled from constituency-level data maintained by the Electoral Commission of Ghana, and district-level socio-economic characteristics derived from the 2010 and 2000 National Population Censuses conducted by the Ghana Statistical Service. In essence, we used data from two presidential elections in Ghana in 2000 and 2012 which could be directly aligned to data from the 2000 and 2010 national population censuses for district-level analysis using the concept of an average “district” voter. Our analysis indicated that the voter turnout was determined by a number of factors, the most important one being the population aged 15 over; the turnout decreases with increasing population. The impairment of voter participation, based on the proportion of the total votes cast attributed to spoiled ballots, was linked to the literacy rate with the spoiled ballots proportion declining with increasing literacy rate. The share of the total valid votes cast, obtained by the victorious party in a district, was influenced to a large degree by the proportion of the total number of citizens in a district belonging to the two biggest social/ethnic groups in Ghana, Asantes and Ewes, who predominantly voted in a countervailing manner for the parties that their political class elites dominate, the New Patriotic Party and National Democratic Congress, respectively.

The goal of the election is not only to determine the outcomes but also to lend credence to the winners, even for those voters who did not bother voting for them. This underlines the necessity of holding free, fair, and hidden elections. Component of all this is that elections are controlled by open and accountable, neutral, and autonomous electoral-management bodies. Utilizing technology in voting procedures can make it quicker, more efficient, and less susceptible to security breaches. The technology can ensure the safety of every vote, better and faster and much more accurate counting and automatic tallying. The design of a sophisticated voting system is a complex task as it has to fulfill several essential criteria. The secrecy of an elector’s poll is to be well-preserved. The voting system should not give any evidence that proves which candidate receives a particular voter’s vote. The process uses minimum paper documents and is therefore environmentally friendly. Bio-metric or retina scans can be used to ensure security. The e-voting system is vulnerable to several serious attacks from external sources. There is indeed a likelihood that anybody who has immediate access to the e-voting system can access it suspiciously. Malevolent software can steal one candidate's votes and assign them to some other. An attacker may deny officials access to the e-voting arrangement or render an e-voting structure unavailable for the Election Day voting process. This is known as a service denial (DoS) attack. But this kind of threat is hard to detect. A large number of questionable and invalid votes are the big problem with traditional paper-ballot based voting system. This phenomenon will be eliminated if the e-voting system is used. In addition to the speed of counting and reduction of errors the e-voting system offers some more advantages such as accessibility, verifiability, and availability. When the e-voting system is integrated with the Internet, any eligible voter can vote from anywhere as there will be two or more levels of authenticity checks. In this paper, the authors reviewed the application of technology in the development of smart, secure, and versatile public voting systems. Also, they outlined research gaps and recommend new approaches to the existing systems.

Party regulation remains one of the central questions in the existing political party research. Considering a vast number of academic works and international practices, there is still a need to continue the research on possible ways for the regulation of political parties, especially of their internal affairs. This article attempts to initiate a discussion on the issue of legal regulation of candidate nomination, focusing on the case of recent parliamentary elections in Ukraine. The paper explores the loopholes in the current party regulation and mechanisms of the state`s control over the internal activities of political parties in Ukraine. The article examines the powers of election administration with regard to candidate nomination and provides the analysis of the current state of party laws in Ukraine in terms of intra-party regulation.

Elections are widely recognized as the keystone of representative democracy. In the Central and Eastern European context, there are two key aspects of elections that are worthy of consideration: electoral systems (the rules and regulations associated with the casting of votes and the conversion of votes into seats), and voting behaviour (the decision whether or not to vote and the choice(s) made at the polls). Electoral systems allow citizens to express their political preferences; in addition, they influence the development of party systems and the composition of government. In this chapter we shall see that there was an initial shift towards list-based forms of proportional representation across the countries of the region, followed by a greater degree of institutional stability. The chapter will also consider the ways in which elections allow citizens to interact with government: whether they vote or not (turnout), and what election outcomes reveal about voter preferences. In other words, this will be the chapter in which we discuss ‘conventional’ participation.