Elections Are Democracy’s Working Day

In the rich collection of media platitudes about this and that in politics, the one about elections being a celebration of democracy ranks quite high on my personal list of the most misguided. Not because elections are unimportant, but precisely because they are important. For democracy, elections are not a holiday but a working day. On election day, we neither celebrate nor commemorate democracy. In elections we put democracy into practice and lay its foundations. And speaking of foundations, anyone who has ever built a house, a garden shed or a skyscraper knows that you can’t afford carelessness and mistakes if you want the structure not to sag, crack or collapse in on itself at the first serious load.

I have been to many elections in my life. First as an active citizen, old enough to remember the times when we could vote but could not choose, so I conscientiously exercise my constitutional right and civic duty every time. In the first part of my career, I also took part as an observer in many elections in various European countries. I did this at the first elections in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the signing of the Dayton Agreement, when we traveled there on American military aircraft because there were no regular flights yet. I observed several elections in Albania, including those after the great crisis in the country that followed the collapse of the pyramid savings schemes. At that time some political grandees underlined the points of their election programs with bursts from Kalashnikovs, but what has stayed most in my memory is a long night we spent in a hovel high in the Albanian mountains. There, the chairman and vice-chairman of the polling committee, from the Socialist Party and the Democratic Party, suspiciously examined every ballot paper and argued about whether it was valid or not. It took so long because they had only one pair of glasses between them. When, sometime around four in the morning, I yawned widely once again and hinted that it was time to return to the hotel, my boss, the British parliamentarian Russell, replied that it was out of the question. “Elections are a serious matter and every vote counts,” he told me sharply.

Most of my observation experience was in countries with very short experience of democracy. Voting took place in exceptional circumstances, in countries suffering the consequences of war or major social crises. We observed and saw everything possible and impossible. From creative counting of ballots and the presence of armed men at polling stations to less serious but still dubious electoral practices such as family voting, in which, for example, the head of the family votes for his wife, children, parents, father-in-law, mother-in-law and sister. Given everything I saw and experienced, it is no wonder that by comparison my experiences of elections in Slovenia were downright boring. Nothing unusual ever happened there. And I was always very proud of that.

This time, unfortunately, it is different. Given everything that has happened in recent weeks and days, I can’t help thinking now and then of experiences from countries that were only just learning democracy. And often had serious problems learning it. I posted the ballots that members of my family received from Slovenia at the last minute at the local French post office on Saturday, April 23. Now I can only keep my fingers crossed that, despite the holidays, they will make it back to Slovenia in time and be counted in the end rather than ending up in the bin. “Elections are a serious matter, every vote counts,” as Russell said. And not only does every vote count; everything must also be done to give every adult citizen the opportunity to exercise their constitutional right and vote. Whether this fundamental condition for free and fair elections was met in this year’s elections in Slovenia is still an open question.

A lot happened in the weeks and days before the elections. We have had some problems for some time. Evidently, the legal deadlines and procedures are inadequate, as they cause systemic problems, which this time we aggravated with some ill-considered moves. These things will need to be regulated by law as soon as possible, certainly before the next elections. The question arises of whether the date chosen for the elections by the President of the Republic was appropriate, since even a glance at the calendar would have told him that it was a day squeezed between the Easter and May Day holidays, and that there was therefore a high risk of delays both in sending postal items abroad and in their return to Slovenia. We can also be critical of how we responded to holding elections during the pandemic. We are not the first country that has had to find answers on how to enable all citizens to vote in exceptional circumstances. What is striking is that in most cases we chose options that were detrimental to exercising the fundamental constitutional right to vote. In France, presidential elections are taking place in the same period. On Sunday, all French citizens could vote, including those who had tested positive for Covid-19, since appropriate sanitary protocols were in place at polling stations. In France there is a political consensus that, in the current circumstances, the risk to public health is smaller than the danger to democracy posed by a not insignificant share of voters being unable to vote. We decided otherwise, and what is striking is that we have more restrictions on exercising the right to vote than on the right to visit shopping centers without masks, Covid certificates or other protective measures. Then we created confusion over medical certificates that doctors refuse to issue. Then the mistakes of an employee of the National Electoral Commission. Then the shifting of responsibility from the Electoral Commission to the Slovenian Post Office—and back—over who is to blame for the ballots being sent abroad so late that many Slovenian citizens living abroad will not be able to vote this time, at least not in a way that would ensure their vote is counted in the final result. The communication of those responsible about all these complications was often arrogant and disrespectful towards voters and democracy. Even if, for most people, and I hope also for me and my family, it works out in the end by a hair’s breadth, it was still unnecessary and caused plenty of resentment, anger and distrust of institutions. And without trust in institutions, democracy cannot function.

Incidentally, part of the commentariat on social networks reacted to these shenanigans by asking why people living abroad have the right to vote in Slovenian elections at all. My answer is that a great many Slovenian citizens live abroad, having left their homeland for various reasons, many related to the fact that Slovenia is not North Korea but is economically, politically and institutionally embedded in international networks and economic and other cooperation. Many have left in recent years for jobs related to EU membership. Abroad there are many top experts and also successful athletes we like so much to boast about. To them and other Slovenians living abroad, as to all Slovenian citizens, the Constitution guarantees our constitutional rights, including the right to vote.

I am not a supporter of conspiracy theories, so without evidence I will not throw around accusations of deliberate manipulation and restriction of the possibility to vote. Most of the mistakes were probably not intentional, and I have no evidence that they were politically motivated. The main criterion for assessing slips in electoral procedures is, of course, whether they decisively affected the final result. In the hope that this will not be the case, it is already clear today that in preparing the elections we allowed ourselves so many mistakes and so much sloppiness, even if unintentional, that as a country with more than three decades of experience of democracy we should be thoroughly ashamed. Despite all the ups and downs, I believe that by the day you read this we will have a newly composed parliament with full legitimacy. That is very important, but not enough to breathe a sigh of relief. With all the shenanigans we allowed ourselves in conducting this election, we further disappointed and angered many citizens, and thereby deepened the already low trust in institutions, politics and, in the end, democracy. Many, not entirely unjustifiably, were left with a bitter aftertaste and the feeling that politics is merely a circus (to which some debates and the behavior of some politicians contributed greatly) and a kitchen they have no influence over. Without voters who trust political institutions, there is no functioning democracy. If we treat their constitutional rights the way we did this time, some will be even more receptive to alternatives to democracy that are based not on free and fair elections but solely on the authoritarian argument of power and might. If we are serious about wanting a functioning democracy in Slovenia, then we must speak critically about all the mistakes and weaknesses and start correcting them. The day after these elections, not the day before the next ones. More than celebration, democracy and its fundamental rules need competence, responsibility and respect.