ELECTORAL LEGISLATION AND ELECTIONS IN THE XXI CENTURY

Abstract

Elections are a strategic socio-political and legal institution that promotes the implementation of democratic mechanisms of the state, the process of expression of the will of citizens. The purpose of the article is to study the trends in the development of the constitutional and legal foundations of the organization and conduct of elections in the Russian Federation and their transformation in the field of ensuring the rights of subjects of the electoral process, taking into account new challenges and threats to national security, the independence of the country, attempts at external interference. The developing public relations in the field of organizing and conducting elections indicate the emergence of new aspects that require normative regulation. Safe and free elections will not only ensure the continuity and political innovation of the structural components of the Russian state, but will also contribute to the formation of an electoral culture in society. Based on the results of the study, a conclusion was formulated on the need to include the section ‘Security of the organization and conduct of elections in the Russian Federation’ in the National Security Strategy. In the context of the information society, the importance of further improving Russian electoral legislation, developing digital and information electoral technologies, as well as creating mechanisms to counter foreign interference in the process of organizing and conducting elections and minimizing the consequences of destructive actions by unscrupulous subjects of electoral law relations is emphasized.