POLITICAL MANIPULATIONS DURING THE ELECTORAL PROCESS AS A THREAT TO POLITICAL SECURITY AND THE REALIZATION OF PEOPLE’S POWER

Abstract

The purpose of the research and methodology is to study the approaches, forms, methods used during the electoral process in the mechanisms of political manipulation and persuasion as a threat to political security and to create means of counteracting such forms of external influence on the conduct of elections and the election of representative bodies of power that will truly realize the will of the Ukrainian people in the future. The article also develops proposals for the introduction of elements of the mechanism of such counteraction during elections in the post-war period. The abstract and logical method, the method of comparative analysis and the empirical method were used to highlight the foreign experience of using political manipulations and leaks during the electoral process and the mechanisms of counteracting it. The results. The study identifies the following forms of political manipulation: a) campaigning; b) computing tools in the form of robots – bots, fake followers, astroturfing; c) extreme social media, disinformation, d) ‘hyper-partisan’ news and commentary; e) fake news. The conclusions of the paper are the development of the following measures to counteract political manipulations during election campaigns that pose a threat to political security and the exercise of the people’s right to exercise power by introducing social measures to improve media literacy and Internet skills and taking measures by the state to create conditions for wider access to such knowledge through courses, training, etc. As well as measures to strengthen state control to expand the powers of the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption of Ukraine; the body in charge of ensuring the information sovereignty of Ukraine. And the introduction of legislative regulatory measures to amend the Electoral Code of Ukraine and other regulations.