oa ONDEMOCRATISCHE VERKIEZINGEN?

Legitimacy, fraud and mistrust in democracy

Even if elections are a contested aspect of democracy, the free and fair elections of political representatives play a pivotal role in the legitimation of political power. Election fraud was, and still is, a main threat to this form of democratic legitimacy. But even in countries with low levels of fraud and corruption, electoral democracy is undermined by a growing mistrust of representative institutions and their capacity to serve the interest of the people.