Purpose and specifics of the constitutional and legal responsibility of the participants in the election process

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the purpose and specifics of the constitutional and legal responsibility of the participants of the election process.

It has been established that currently there is insufficient research on the systematic analysis of constitutional and legal responsibility. Ukrainian legislation regulates various types of legal liability, such as civil, criminal, and administrative, but it is little improved with regard to constitutional and legal liability. The term “constitutional and legal responsibility” is not used in the Constitution of Ukraine, although there are separate provisions related to this form of responsibility. This limits the possibility of using constitutional and legal responsibility to perform various tasks provided for by the constitutional law of Ukraine.

It was determined that constitutional and legal responsibility has a political nature and can arise even in the absence of violations of the law. In this context, constitutional responsibility is associated with actions that are viewed from a political point of view as negative. An example of such responsibility is the collective responsibility of the government before the parliament, which is provided for in Article 87 of the Constitution of Ukraine. Although this form of responsibility has a political aspect, it cannot be considered full-fledged political responsibility, since political responsibility and legal responsibility are different concepts. One of the differences of legal responsibility is that it is tied to the violation of legal norms, and this involves the application of appropriate coercive measures or sanctions, which are established by law.

It is emphasized that it is important to create effective regulation of this issue, to ensure a balance between freedom of speech and responsibility for spreading false information. The law should require mandatory fact-checking before publishing information in mass media or social networks during election campaigns.

Arguably, the development and implementation of electronic platforms for engaging citizens in the electoral process can simplify and improve their participation, including electronic voting, online consultations and other interactive means of communication with citizens.