I valet och kvalet: hälsa eller demokrati? - En normativ studie om uppskjutna val under Coronapandemin

Sammanfattning: Several countries have seen elections postponed during 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has generated an ethical conflict between political security and health security. By applying a general theoretical framwork that draws upon Rita Floyd’s normative securitization theory as well as democracy theory, this study examines the normative conflict that many world leaders have faced. However, the principles of justification in this study make for a context based analysis for each case. Given that democracy and the lives of a country’s citizens have value worthy of protection, election postponement can only be justified if the criteria of political freedom, majority rule and institutional cercainty are met. Focusing on the extent of the health crisis, the democratic stability and the intentions surroundning each case, the empirical examples given in this paper – New Zealand, Poland and Bolivia – show that differences in contextual cicumstances result in different conclusions regarding the justification of postponing elections.