Łyżwa Łukasz, Ethics of Strategic Voting in Popular Elections

Popular elections are the condition for every representative democracy, hence acknow-ledging the practices which govern such elections is essential to understand the modern democratic state. There are some who would argue that a fair process of voting is not in any way the essence of democracy. According to their approach, democracy should be associated with numerous institutions that counterbalance any discretionary powers of public authorities out of consideration for the fundamental individual rights and liberties. Fair elections are then not the only condition of democracy. It is what we would call the liberal democracy approach. Yet, the advocates of this approach do not underestimate the act of voting. Increase of voters’ turnout is supported by „get-out-the-vote” actions or enforcement of compulsory voting, for instance in Australia. Moreover, polling days are generally considered a public holiday by national authorities around the world to encourage citizens to participate in...