State support of stability of the information field of the electoral process in Ukraine

Abstract

The article is devoted to the research of the information field of the election process in Ukraine, to determine the features of the state ensuring the stability of the information field and to establish ways to develop the system of information support of the election process. The characteristic of the information field and sources of its formation is given. The information field of the election process is divided into informing voters (official information from the authorities) and campaigning. The formation of the information field of the election process is influenced by two main sources: public authorities; political parties, candidates. It was determined that the former provide information on legal provisions and official information on the election process, the latter partially inform voters by duplicating official information, as well as organize agitation, which may be informal and ideological in nature. There is a special role of mass media, which act as a mediator between the subjects of the election process and the repeater of the whole set of information. A threat to the stability of the information field is that mass media may be politically biased or disseminate inaccurate information in their own interests. It has been established that in recent years the political struggle has shifted to the Internet. This involves large social groups, especially young people - the vast majority of whom are users of modern technology. It is determined that such improvement of methods of information transfer and improvement of communication technologies leads to the fact that the possibility of manipulating the consciousness of a large number of citizens increases. It is concluded that the solution to a number of problems of state ensuring the stability of the electoral process in Ukraine should be, first, the regulation of the dissemination of information using the latest technologies; secondly, strengthening control over compliance with election legislation and real penalties for violating it; third, the development of a strategy for the formation of political and legal culture of citizens. Also, in order to ensure the stability of the information field of the election process, conditions should be created to ensure the timeliness, accuracy, objectivity, neutrality and completeness of information disseminated among citizens.

 Keywords: election process, elections, public authorities, political parties, information field of the election process, agitation, informing voters.