| Abstract: | Lietuvos Respublikos Konstitucijoje nustatyta, jog Lietuvos valstybė yra nepriklausoma, o jos valdymas paremtas demokratiniais principais, kurioje įtvirtintas demokratinis institutas – rinkimai. Tarptautiniuose teisės aktuose nustatyti pagrindiniai rinkimų teisės principai, tačiau konkrečios rinkimų sistemos pasirinkimas ir jos reguliavimas yra paliktas kiekvienos valstybės kompetencijai.
Lietuvoje nuolat reiškiamas nepasitenkinimas išrinktais valdžios atstovais ir mažėjant gyventojų skaičiui, kyla klausimas, ar tinkamai išreiškiama rinkėjų valia, ar nereikia atlikti rinkimų sistemos pakeitimų. Temos aktualumą lemia tai, jog 2019 m. Lietuvoje vyks Lietuvos Respublikos Prezidento rinkimai, kurių rezultatų pagrindu, remiantis rinkėjų valia, bus išrenkamas naujasis šalies vadovas. Prieš vertinant bet kokios egzistuojančios sistemos tinkamumą, tikslinga palyginti ją su kitos šalies rinkimų sistema, demokratijos principų užtikrinimo kontekste. Atsižvelgiant į tai, jog Jungtinės Amerikos Valstijos laikomos demokratijos idealu, būtinas šių dviejų rinkimų pagal rinkėjo valią palyginimas. Nors JAV Prezidento netiesioginių rinkimų būdas, anot kai kurių autorių, laikomas archajišku, tačiau nustatant tiesioginių rinkimų Lietuvoje ypatumus, taip pat vertinant jų tinkamumą, tikslinga atsižvelgti būtent į tokias gilias demokratines tradicijas turinčios valstybės patirtį. Siekiant, jog dar plačiau būtų atskleisti tiesioginių rinkimų ypatumai, šiame darbe nagrinėjami ne tik Lietuvos, bet ir kitų Europos valstybių tiesioginių rinkimų specifika.
Atliktas tyrimas parodė, jog JAV federacinės valstybės specifinė rinkimų sistema ir savitas balsų skaičiavimas lemia, jog sprendimą priimanti Rinkikų kolegija, ne visada yra įpareigota remtis visuotiniu balsavimu, rinkimų rezultatus lemia daugumos valstijų valia. Remiantis išnagrinėta moksline literatūra ir tarptautiniais aktais, kuriuose deklaruojama, jog žmonių valia yra valstybės valdžios pagrindas, patvirtinama hipotezė, jog demokratinių rinkimų tikslas – išreikšti daugumos rinkėjų valią, Lietuvos kontekste yra labiau užtikrinamas tiesioginiais rinkimais.
The Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, adopted in 1992, has stated that Lithuania is an independent state and its governance is based upon democratic principles. It has also stated that the state has a democracy institute installed, essential to a democratic country – the institute of elections. The international legal acts determine the main legal principles of elections, but choosing a specific election system and its regulation is left to the competence of each and every country.
Elections can be divided to direct and indirect ones according on how the electorate expresses its will and the participation of the citizens in the election is evaluated as an acceptation of the current legal state. Active implementation of the election law is considered one of the essential democratic political system functioning condition. The citizens of the Republic of Lithuania implement their electorate rights in the direct election of the President of the Republic. Taking into account the fact that elections is one of the forms of implementation and protection of democracy, it is important to bring attention to their execution in the state.
Society frequently express dissatisfaction with the chosen government officials and a question of the election system efficiency is being brought up time after time. With the decrease of shrinking population, problem questions of whether the electorate has will in the direct President elections and should the election system be changed, frequently appear. The topic becomes even more relevant because the President’s election is scheduled for 2019 in Lithuania, and the result of which (based on the will of the voters) our state will elect its new leader. Prior to evaluating the suitability of any system, it should be compared to the election system of another country in the context of ensuring the democratic principle. The President of the United States of America is elected through an indirect voting rule, invoking an intermediate institute – an Electoral College. Taking into account that USA is held as the ideal democracy it would be wise to compare our election systems based upon the voter’s will. Although some authors state that the USA President’s indirect elections is archaic, but the indirect elections are kept up in a state with more than two hundred years old traditions. A country lacking such long-term democratic traditions as Lithuania, accepting a direct election principle might have something to take into consideration. In order that even more would be to reveal the characteristics of direct elections, it will be dealt with not only in Lithuania, but also in other point of view European countries’ direct elections specifics
According to the Lithuanian and foreign country scientific literature sources, legal acts and using the teleological, historic, document analysis, logical-analytical, research methods, the analysis has been executed to find out what is a proper type of democracy assurance, which reasons destined the establishment of a certain election type in the legal system, which are the main benefits of both direct and indirect election systems.
The first part of the study presents the general concept of democracy, its basic principles, the relation of these principles with the elections, the interpretation of concepts of direct and indirect election systems. The second part of the study examines the reasoning behind the establishment of the indirect President Election system in the USA Constitution, Electoral College specifics and the advantages and disadvantages of the indirect elections. The third part of the study provides substantial attention to Lithuania, but also takes account of other European countries, since other European states’ election system analysis helps to reveal the pros and cons of the direct election system. It also provides an analysis of the historic evolution of the regulation of the election of the President of the Republic of Lithuania, the circumstances under which the direct President election system was established in the country’s Constitution, interpret the essence of the direct election right principle and other main principles, which assure the existence of democratic elections, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the direct President elections in the context of Lithuania. The last part of the study presents the comparison of advantages and disadvantages of the Lithuanian direct and the United States of America’s indirect President election system, and the international legal act analysis, upon which it is debated which elections are more prone to ensure democracy.
USA federal state specifics and a specific election system is more suited to ensure democracy in the United States of America. Each person is granted the right to vote, however a specific vote counting method leads to the Electoral College making the decision, according to the majority voters of the separate states. It takes more to the interests of separate state interests. However it is said, that based upon international legal acts, which declare that the will of the people is the main source of the power of the state, support the hypothesis that the purpose of democratic elections - to express the will of the majority of voters, in the context of Lithuania direct elections are more suited to ensure democracy. |
