Leukavets, Victoria, Andrey Makarychev, and Giorgi Beridze. “Electoral Campaigns in Times of Lockdown: Post-Soviet Experiences.” Europe-Asia Studies 75, no. 4 (2023): 545-563.
Abstract
This article aims to analyse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic upon electoral campaigns in a fragile democracy (Georgia) and two illiberal polities (Belarus and Russia). It covers the period of time from March to December 2020, focusing on several critical junctures in each country: for Belarus, the 9 August 2020 presidential elections; for Russia, the 1 July ‘people’s vote’ and the cycle of regional elections in September 2020; and for Georgia, the 31 October 2020 parliamentary elections. The article argues that COVID-19 did not diminish citizens’ demands for fundamental norms of electoral democracy and policy transparency; in fact, it increased political mobilisation within all three countries.
