Elections During a Pandemic: Experiences and Challenges

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic overnight led to changes in our everyday life that we could not even imagine before. Life during a pandemic has become filled with fear, sirens, health measures and state of emergencies. The new normal has led to a number of changes that have unquestionably tested the functioning of democratic processes in many countries in Europe. In that direction, the Covid-19 pandemic has led to a number of challenges in the organization of electoral processes in Europe. Free and fair elections, organized periodically on the basis of direct, secret, equal and universal suffrage are one of the main pillars of every democratic society. That is why European societies had to find a way how elections will be organized during the Covid-19 pandemic. At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, several elections were postponed, but soon the European states made changes to their electoral laws in order to provide electoral authorities with flexibility over the organization of the elections. Thus, many countries in Europe decided to allow postal voting, early voting, proxy voting, home and institutional based voting by mobile ballot box, as well as, specially organized Covid-19 polling stations. Although the health situation was very difficult and complicated, such flexible solutions contributed to the organization of all electoral processes during 2020 and 2021. In this regard, the aim of the paper will be to analyze the decisions and changes taken during Covid-19 in regards to the organization of elections in Europe, as well as the impact of Covid-19 on the voter turnout and overall outcome of the held elections.