No abstract

Organizing voting in general elections only in the traditional way (i.e., at the ballot boxes) may make it difficult for more and more voters to participate. This is due to the increasing mobility of society and the fact that citizens are away from home on election day, the aging population and much more difficult access of the old and the sick to polling stations, and – as shown in the years 2020–2021 – unexpected epidemic crises that affect public health, which in turn translates into the election process. This article focuses on alternative voting methods in Poland and Lithuania. The main intention of the authors is to analyze the legal basis and compare the functioning of alternative voting procedures in the electoral systems of both countries, as well as to answer the question about the possibility of introducing new forms of voting that could increase the health safety of voters and ensure the democratic nature of elections in emergency situations. The motivation to take up this topic were: the wprowapresidential elections in Poland in 2020 and the parliamentary elections in Lithuania in 2021, during which not only alternative voting methods were used (e.g., correspondence voting), but also the possibility of implementing completely new solutions – safe in the event of spreading coronavirus pandemic.

The present article covers parliamentary elections in the Republic of Latvia. An analysis of the conduct and institutional conditions of the 2022 parliamentary elections in Latvia is undertaken. Unlike the previous elections in 2018, there were no radical changes in Latvia. It was only two new parties with radical, populist, conservative, Eurosceptic and anti-systemic profiles with a right-wing orientation that managed to enter the Parliament. The party system remained moderately fragmented with a balance between the parties. A centre-right coalition formed the government and it is this coalition that the future government coalition will be formed around. The present analysis is based on a case study, which made it possible to look at a particular case and to draw conclusions about the conduct and outcome of the Latvian parliamentary elections.

This article is focused on the evolution of the constitutional position of the President of Lithuania in the Lithuanian Basic Laws. The analysis concerns the regulations of the three Lithuanian Basic Laws of the interwar period (of 1922, 1928 and 1938), two of which were an attempt to legitimize the political situation after the coup d’état against the constitutional government of the Republic of Lithuania in 1926 and also to implement the authoritarian government of President Antanas Smetona. The article also assesses the most important legal provisions concerning the constitutional position of the President, as well as compares the Lithuanian constitutional provisions with constitutions of other countries, primarily with the Polish Constitution of 1935. The research goals have been achieved thanks to the applied research methods, especially the comparative method, supplemented with the historical method and the method of institutional and legal analysis, which is used to analyse normative acts elaborated by legal bodies.

Celem niniejszego artykułu jest analiza polityki zagranicznej prowadzonej przez prezydenta Republiki Litewskiej Gitanasa Nausėda w latach 2019–2022 oraz próba oceny głównych kierunków jego działalności w tym aspekcie. Celem analizy jest odpowiedź na pytanie, czy prowadzona przez prezydenta Litwy polityka zagraniczna jest kontynuacją polityki jego poprzednika czy też zmianą obranych kierunków (a jeśli tak – to w jakim zakresie). Podstawą teoretyczną badań jest model Gustavssona, który opiera się na analizie różnych etapów zmian w polityce zagranicznej.