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Vol. 39, Nº 71 (2021), 682-702
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
Recibido el 14/09/2021 Aceptado el 22/11/2021
The concept and structure of activities
in the eld of organizing and holding
elections to government bodies in the
theory of constitutional law
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.3971.41
Natalia Keshikova *
Igor Demeshko **
Abstract
The article aims to study the concept and structure of
activities in the eld of the organization and holding of elections
to governing bodies in the theory of constitutional law. The main
method was the analysis of systems that allows to study the
system of activities in this eld. The latter can be represented by
dierent structures depending on the stage of their cognition as
an object or their internal processes. In addition, the article used
the historical method, deduction, induction, etc. It is concluded that the
system of activities in the eld of the organization and holding of elections
to the governing bodies is a unit of their properties and integral elements,
order and their interaction, as well as stable connections between them,
based on the principles of preservation or invariance, which are organized
as appropriate relations between the structural elements themselves and
their external environment, that is, the sphere of the organization and
conduct of elections to the governing bodies.
Keywords: political activity; area of the organization and conduct
of elections; electoral process; elemental composition;
functional-intentional method.
* Irkutsk Institute (Branch) of the All-Russian State University of Justice, Irkutsk, Russia. ORCID ID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9866-3464
** Department of Legal work of the Administration of the City of Irkutsk, Irkutsk, Russia. ORCID ID:
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9095-4243
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Vol. 39 Nº 71 (2021): 682-702
El concepto y la estructura de las actividades en el
campo de la organización y celebración de elecciones
a órganos gubernamentales en la teoría del derecho
constitucional
Resumen
El artículo tiene como objetivo estudiar el concepto y la estructura de
las actividades en el campo de la organización y celebración de elecciones
a los órganos de gobierno en la teoría del derecho constitucional. El
método principal fue el análisis de sistemas que permite estudiar el sistema
de actividades en este campo. Este último puede ser representado por
diferentes estructuras dependiendo de la etapa de su cognición como objeto
o sus procesos internos. Además, el artículo utilizó el método histórico, la
deducción, la inducción, etc. Se concluye que el sistema de actividades en
el campo de la organización y celebración de elecciones a los órganos de
gobierno es una unidad de sus propiedades y elementos integrales, el orden
y su interacción, así como conexiones estables entre ellos, basadas en los
principios de preservación o invariancia, que se organizan como relaciones
apropiadas entre los propios elementos estructurales y su entorno externo,
es decir, la esfera de la organización y celebración de elecciones a los
órganos de gobierno.
Palabras clave: actividad política; esfera de la organización y celebración
de elecciones; proceso electoral; composición elemental;
método funcional-intencional.
Introduction
Constant transformation processes in a state-organized society stipulate
the need to adapt activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections
to government bodies to changing conditions. One of the key directions of
such adaptation is the transformation of the system-structural approach
and the improvement of the functional-purposeful organization of such
activities. Today, there is a large discrepancy (inconsistency) between
the actual system and structure of activities in the eld of organizing and
holding elections to government bodies and those enshrined in the current
legislation. This fact is reected in the relevant judicial practice (Supreme
Court of The Russian Federation, September 2, 2019; Supreme Court of
The Russian Federation, September 7, 2019; Supreme Court of The Russian
Federation, September 16, 2019).
The constitutional and legal regulation of this activity does not fully meet
the requirements of the system-wide approach both at its system-structural
684
Natalia Keshikova, Igor Demeshko
The concept and structure of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to
government bodies in the theory of constitutional law
level (the invariant of the system-structural organization of the activity under
study) and at the functional-purposeful level. In particular, it is expressed
in the fact that federal election law lacks the goals and objectives of both the
legal regulation of organizing and holding elections to government bodies
and the goals and objectives of its manifestations, namely, activities in the
eld of organizing and holding elections to government bodies. This state
of aairs develops alongside an equally dicult situation in the science of
constitutional law, where insucient attention is paid to the very activity
in the eld of organizing and holding elections to government bodies in
general and its system-structural and functional-purposeful organization
in particular.
1. Methods
The scientic methodological study of the systemic and structural
organization of the above-mentioned activity stipulates the need to
determine positions on the relationship between the concepts of system
and organization, system and structure, as well as clarify the understanding
of the structure of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections
to government bodies. According to the systemic approach, the concept of
“structure of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to
government bodies” should be correlated with the concepts of “system” and
“organization”.
At the same time, it is dicult to classify such concepts as “system/
structure/organization of activities in the eld of organizing and holding
elections to government bodies” since there is no single viewpoint on the
correlation of generic concepts “system”, “structure” and “organization”.
We will share the initial prevailing opinion that the concept of “system”
is the broadest one among the above-mentioned generic concepts. It gives
an idea about various manifestations of a complex object of cognition. In
this case, they are manifestations of activities in the eld of organizing
and holding elections to government bodies (its elements, structure,
connections, functions, goals, etc.).
The concept of “structure” in relation to the “system” concept expresses
only something that remains stable and relatively unchanged under various
transformations of the system (Obshchii Tolkovyi Slovar Russkogo Yazyka,
n.d.). Therefore, we will build our further research on the interpretation of
the structure of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to
government bodies as one of the aspects (invariants) of their system.
Finally, the generic concept of “organization” embraces both structural-
static and communicative-functional characteristics of a system that ensure
its stability, balance and directed functioning. Organization is usually
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presented as internal orderliness and coherence of interacted elements
of the structure, which manifests itself in the limited diversity of states
common to the elements within its structure. As a rule, it is much easier to
dene the structure of a system as its internal organization. Consequently,
the organization of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections
to government bodies is an integral property of the system of this activity.
Furthermore, science has not found a universal answer to the question of
what the system is. Its traditional semantic understanding includes several
meanings, namely: 1. the interposition and connection of the constituent
parts, elements of something; structure; 2. arrangement, organization or
structure, internal settlement (Obshchii Tolkovyi Slovar Russkogo Yazyka,
n.d.).
In philosophy, the structure of a system is described in dierent ways.
Within the framework of the communicative approach, it is dened as a set
of stable connections of an object ensuring its integrity and identity, which
presupposes the preservation of basic properties under various external
and internal changes. The communicative approach can be supplemented
with functional components when a structure is regarded as a set of not
only organized connections but also the relations among its elements
(Poleshchuk, 2015).
A dierent position is formed under the inuence of the systemic-
structural method of cognition, according to which a structure is formed as
a relatively stable unity of elements, their relations and the object integrity
expressed as an invariant aspect of this system. The system-purposeful
approach can be traced in I. Kant’s understanding of a structure, which is
described as “the position and connection of parts of an organism formed
for a specic purpose” (Kant, 1994: 217-218). As a result, we deal with
dierent denitions of both structure and system.
To nd a certain compromise, the structure of a system should be
assessed based on several approaches. Logically, this position is consistent
with our ideas about activities in general and activities in the eld of
organizing and holding elections to government bodies in particular,
based on the use of various, multifaceted techniques, methods and
means of cognizing objects of state and legal reality via methodological
pluralism. In this regard, activities in the eld of organizing and holding
elections to government bodies are studied in the context of the integrated
approach comprising positivist, systemic, axiological and anthropological
methods of analysis. Accordingly, the structure of this activity is formed
as a multifaceted phenomenon with various invariants of its existence and
functioning. Therefore, a structure requires an integrated approach to its
cognition and science makes such attempts.
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Natalia Keshikova, Igor Demeshko
The concept and structure of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to
government bodies in the theory of constitutional law
For example, a team of scholars (Sadovskii, Babaitsev, Drozdov,
Chernyshov, Chernyshov, Aleksandrov) argue that the structure of a system
presupposes orderliness, organization and arrangement conditioned by the
relationship between the elements and its relationship with the external
environment. This manifests two opposite properties of the system:
limitation (an external property of the system) and integrity (an internal
property of the system) (Sadovskii et al., 2021).
This denition is based on a set of techniques underlying the
understanding of a structure: system-structural (organization, structure),
communicative (relationships between elements), environmental (its
relationship with the external environment). Another complex denition
of the “structure” concept represents it as the composition, order and
principles of interaction among system elements that determine the basic
properties of this system (Information Systems And Networks, n.d.), relying
on the system-structural, normative and communicative cognition.
In our case, the structure of activities in the eld of organizing and
holding elections to government bodies is a unity of its integral properties
and elements, the order and principles of their interaction, as well as stable
connections between them, which are organized by the corresponding
relationship between the structural elements and its relationship with the
external environment, i.e., the sphere of organizing and holding elections
to government bodies.
We should pay attention to the fact that the same system of activities in
the eld of organizing and holding elections to government bodies can be
represented by dierent structures, depending on the stage of its cognition
as an object or its inner processes, the aspect of their consideration and/or
the purpose of creation (Volkova and Denisov, 2014). Generally, the system
of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to government
bodies can be represented by “a simple listing of elements (objects,
subjects, principles, means, results)” (Vedeneev, 2003: 85; Biktagirov,
2010; Krasnov, 2000).
However, a comprehensive analysis presupposes “the representation
of a system by dividing it into dierent and interconnected subsystems,
components, elements, and their subsequent integration into a structure”
(Volkova and Denisov, 2014: 40). In any case, the structure of activities
in the eld of organizing and holding elections to government bodies
establishes the role and purpose of elements in the system of activities in
this area, their location and relationship with each other.
Moreover, the system of activities in the eld of organizing and holding
elections to government bodies is closely related to its composition. This
structure presupposes the decomposition of the system of a given activity,
i.e., the division of a single (whole) system into its constituent elements. On
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the contrary, its structure provides the composition of the system of activity
and the combination of its components (Yamashkin and Novokreshchenova,
2016). Thus, the structure of activities in the eld of organizing and holding
elections to government bodies characterizes the overall organization, the
stable arrangement of its elements and connections between them.
Let us proceed from a general understanding of the structure of
activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to government
bodies to its composition. The science of constitutional law does not
provide direct answers to this question. To ll the existing gaps in the
science of constitutional law, we need to analyze scientic views related to
the systemic-structural organization of a given activity, to determine their
positive and negative aspects for this research. The generalization of some
characteristics of the structure of the procedure for organizing and holding
elections to government bodies (the election process) will allow to use them
for the comprehension of the structure of the subject under study, i.e.,
the system of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to
government bodies as a manifestation of this order.
Currently, no scientic works study the structure and composition of
the procedure for organizing and holding elections to government bodies.
The latter is regarded as an activity carried out in the eld of organizing
and holding elections to government bodies. The election process is also an
external expression of the procedure for organizing and holding elections
to government bodies.
In this context, it is quite logical and expedient to study the structure
of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to government
bodies from the particular (election process) to the general (the procedure
for organizing and holding elections to government bodies as activity).
To attain this end, we have analyzed several scientic works considering
the structure of the election process. The above-mentioned ideas will be
considered and serve as a starting point for the further development of our
own viewpoint on the structure of activities in the eld of organizing and
holding elections to government bodies.
First of all, we need to refer to R.G. Mazitov’s position. While considering
the content and functioning of the election process in the context of the
political process as a whole, the scholar argued that the election process
was a form of implementing public power, its political reproduction and
recognition. In his opinion, the election process was a dynamic phenomenon
consisting of the purposeful activity of the subjects of the election process
aimed at implementing the constitutional right of citizens to elect and be
elected to representative bodies of power (Mazitov, 2009).
If the question is posed in such a way, R.G. Mazitov identied the
form (process) and content (activity) of the procedure for organizing and
688
Natalia Keshikova, Igor Demeshko
The concept and structure of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to
government bodies in the theory of constitutional law
holding elections to government bodies, which is incorrect from the general
philosophical perspective. R.G. Mazitov formed the concept of “election
process” by summarizing the main scientic positions on this issue and
used several interdisciplinary research methods (political-legal, procedural,
activity-based).
As a result, his concept of the election process tends rather to the category
of the so-called integrative. The scholar’s merit lies in the application of the
integrated approach to studying the concept of “election process”. Despite
its eclecticism, his approach claims to be unique. R.G. Mazitov’s opinion
on the inner structure of the election process is also constructive for our
research. Based on his provisions on the election process, we can determine
the following elemental composition of such a process:
• Subjects of the election process (participants in a particular electoral
campaign).
• The goal of the election process (the formation of elected bodies of
state power and local self-government).
• Specic election actions and procedures associated with certain
stages of preparation and conduct of elections.
U.S. Iskandarov emphasized that the current election law of Russia
identied the election process with the procedure for organizing and
holding elections as a form of exercising subjective voting rights reecting
the technology of voters’ participation in the exercise of power. While
developing his concept of the election process, U.S. Iskandarov (2007)
distinguished between two external forms: the procedure for organizing
and holding elections as a set of legal norms and the election process aimed
at the election of ocials, the implementation of the enshrined legal rights
and obligations through a certain sequence of electoral actions.
The author also drew attention to the existence of procedural norms
establishing the procedures for exercising electoral rights in the election
process along with the substantive norms governing the procedure for
organizing and holding elections. We agree with the scholar on this matter.
However, he narrowed the procedure for organizing and holding elections
and identied it with a set of legal norms. As a result, the procedure for
organizing and holding elections loses its procedural aspect, which creates
the actual form of the corresponding order.
According to V.V. Ignatenko, the election process is a legally regulated
procedure for organizing and holding elections that ensures the legitimacy
of voting and election results. Its structure consists of relatively independent
stages that dier from each other in tasks, participants and their legal
status, the types of electoral documents and the nal results of procedural
activities.
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This position is characterized by a dierent approach to the structure
of the election process. In this context, the structure of the election process
is presented at two levels. The top level consists of stages as constituent
elements. At the lower level of the structure, each stage of the election
process unites participants, tasks, electoral documents, and the nal results
of procedural activities as certain elements.
Thus, V.V. Ignatenko dened the election process as a system of a
higher order, comprising systems of a lower order (subsystems) that play
the role of stages of the election process. However, this system analysis of
the election process is not completed, and the elemental composition of
its subsystems (stages) is not fully determined. They lack such invariable
elements of procedural activity as goals, principles, functions, objects,
means and methods. In addition, we should not equate the procedure for
organizing and holding elections with the election process. The latter is only
part of the procedure for organizing and holding elections that forms one of
its stages (sub-processes), i.e., the procedure for holding elections.
We should dwell on A.V. Ivanchenko’s viewpoint, who considered the
election process
a technological infrastructure and a form of realizing the constitutional
functions of elections and the principles of organizing periodic free
elections and ensuring the electoral rights of a person and a citizen within
the sequence of performing complex electoral actions and procedures
stipulated by law (Ivanchenko, 1999: 255-256).
Undoubtedly, this understanding of the election process was based on
the technical and instrumental approach. As for the structure of the election
process, A.V. Ivanchenko identied electoral actions and procedures,
election functions and two types of principles (the rst is the principles of
organizing periodic free elections; the second is the principles of ensuring
the electoral rights of a person and citizen). In addition, the concept of
“technology” used by the author presupposes the inclusion of methods
and techniques in the structure of the election process (Bychenkov,
2018). Despite positive aspects, A.V. Ivanchenko’s approach has certain
shortcomings. In particular, the scholar did not designate the subjective
component as an independent element, as well as the conscious-volitional
component (goals and tasks). As a result, the concept of the election process
is reduced to a purely technical and instrumental conguration.
It is worth mentioning the position of A.V. Zinoviev and I.S. Polyashova
on the concept and structure of the election process. They tried to summarize
the existing denitions of the election process. The generalized version
interprets the election process as a subinstitution of the electoral system
and as a special type of activity characterized by a complex, polystructural
and multifunctional nature since it covers the actions of all subjects (state
690
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The concept and structure of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to
government bodies in the theory of constitutional law
bodies, election commissions, citizens, their political associations, etc.)
(Zinovev and Polyashova, 2003: 156).
While emphasizing the polystructural and polyfunctional nature of such
activities, A.V. Zinoviev and I.S. Polyashova did not determine substructures
in the election process as independent elements of this activity and did not
include functions in the structure of the election process as activity. Based
on the proposed denition of the “election process”, its structure comprises
legal norms, actions and subjects.
According to S.D. Knyazev (1999b), it is preferable to dene the election
process not through the activities of competent entities but as a system
of interrelated and implemented in a set of relations that mediate the
preparation and conduct of elections. In his opinion, this understanding of
the election process meets the interests of a comprehensive representation
of this multifaceted political and legal phenomenon and clearly shows its
relationship with electoral procedures and forms.
We must give credit to S.D. Knyazev who tried to fully reect the internal
structure of the election process and form certain types of components
in its structure: subjective, technological, and institutional (stadial). The
subjective component of the election process encompasses participants in
some election campaign who, due to their endowment with procedural rights
and obligations, act as subjects of the election process. The technological
component includes temporary (terms) and formal (election documents)
that make up the legal regime of election campaigns.
The institutional component comprises the stages of preparation and
conduct of elections based on electoral actions and phases. According to
the rules of system-structural analysis, the institutional component of any
system is represented by its subject composition (actors) (Chernyshov and
Chernyshov, 2008; Danelyan, 2010; Gerasimov, Popova, Zlobina, 2011).
In legal science, this path is followed primarily by theorists of state and
law, revealing the legal system of society, where its institutional component
is the composition of subjects and participants (the subjective component)
(Melekhin, 2009). Consequently, the institutional level of the election
process includes only its subjects. At the same time, the author’s merit is an
attempt to combine its elemental composition into groups based on certain
criteria (actors, tools, stages) within the framework of the election process.
The rational kernel is contained in D.M. Khudolei’s ideas on the
essential features and stages of the election process (Khudolei, 2015). The
scholar attempted to consider the election process from the viewpoint of its
content: legal (electoral rights and obligations) and actual (the activities of
various participants in the preparation and conduct of elections) within the
process-functional approach.
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R.T. Biktagirov dened the election process as a complex and integrative
(collective) category of the science of election law, election system and
practice of election campaigns expressed in the legal relations that develop
between elements of the election system during the preparation and conduct
of general elections to state and local self-government bodies. The scholar
emphasized that the election process was the purposeful activity of subjects
of election law to implement the subjective constitutional right of citizens
to elect and be elected to government bodies, on the one hand, and the
power-related activity of voters in the formation of government and local
self-government bodies, as well as on the empowerment of elected ocials,
on the other hand, performed through electoral actions and procedures in
the manner and terms provided for by the procedural norms of election law
(Biktagirov, 2012-2020).
Thus, R.T. Biktagirov declared two types of activities conducted by the
subjects of election law: law-enforcement and power-related. As a result,
the author highlighted the legal will of the subjects of election law, the goal
to achieve a certain political and legal result, the political and legal result
reproducing and legalizing public authority as elements of the election
process. Within the framework of this article, it is crucial to consider the
election process through the activity-based approach.
While dening the election process as a purposeful activity of subjects
aimed at the implementation of their active electoral rights, the scholar
dwelled on only one aspect, namely, the power-related activity of voters in
the formation of government and local self-government bodies, as well as
in empowering elected ocials. He neglected the second aspect, i.e., the
power-related activities of competent public authorities and the exercise of
passive electoral rights by other subjects.
Finally, M.V. Maslovskaya (1999) examined the actions of subjects and
participants in the election process in terms of their form and content.
Functional content can be expressed in the activities of actors, and such
actions are formalized in the form of temporary stages, from which the
election process is formed.
This position correlates with our opinion on the correlation of the election
process as a procedure for organizing and holding elections to government
bodies with activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to
government bodies considered as the content of this procedure. For some
reason, M.V. Maslovskaya substituted these concepts and highlighted the
elements of activity (subjects and participants, actions, material and legal
results, election technologies) as essential characteristics of the election
process.
A critical review of the above-mentioned constitutionalists allows us to
draw a number of our own conclusions. As we can see from the corresponding
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Natalia Keshikova, Igor Demeshko
The concept and structure of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to
government bodies in the theory of constitutional law
analysis, the views of constitutional scholars on the understanding and the
elemental composition of the election process are not the same, there is
no universal and unied approach. On the one hand, some authors see the
concept of “election process” in a broader sense, while the others interpret
it in a narrow sense.
In the rst case (broader understanding), scholars include elements of
activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to government
bodies into the structure of the election process. Thus, the system of a lower
order (less structural) or the election process is endowed with the properties
typical of a system of a higher order (more structural), including the
properties and elements of activities in the eld of organizing and holding
elections to government bodies. We believe that the election process is only
a part of the procedure for organizing and holding elections to government
bodies as activity.
On the other hand, the other authors mix two concepts and use the
concept of “election process”, which has not been enshrined in law, as a
legal category identied either with the procedure for organizing and
holding elections or with activities in the eld of organizing and conducting
elections to government bodies, which, in our opinion, seems incorrect
from the methodological viewpoint.
These concepts (the election process and activities in the eld of
organizing and holding elections to government bodies) have their own
content and, accordingly, a dierent structure. Moreover, the election
process is part of the procedure for organizing and holding elections, which
forms a stage of this order, namely, the stage of holding elections.
The current elaboration of the above-mentioned issue is conditioned
by the following reasons: rstly, an imbalance in the development of
theories regardless of their scientic signicance (for example, disputes
about the relationship of the concepts of “election process”, “procedure for
organizing and holding elections”, “election system”, the study of the order
of organizing and holding elections in a purely theoretical eld (Demeshko,
2015, 2016); secondly, the lack of adequate consideration of the relationship
among such categories as “election process”, “procedure for organizing and
holding elections” and “election system” (Keshikova, 2001; Keshikova and
Demeshko, 2015).
In addition, the current situation was inuenced by the absence of a clear
understanding of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections
to government bodies, its main parameters (features) and elemental
composition in the science of constitutional law. This subsequently leads
scholars to an unjustied identication of activities in the eld of organizing
and holding elections to government bodies with the election process,
election campaigns, etc. and the most diverse assessments of the elements
that form the structure of such an activity.
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2. Results
To x the existing situation, we need to form our own opinion on the
structure of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to
government bodies. For these purposes, it is crucial to pay attention to the
general philosophical interpretation of the structure of activity.
The general philosophical concept of activity reveals the specic life
of people who purposefully transform nature and social reality, including
the political and legal nature and political and legal reality. In our opinion,
the most developed rationalistic concept of activity (an integral concept)
was oered by the German philosopher G. Hegel. It is not by chance since
G. Hegel’s concept considers nothing but the dialectics of the structure of
activity (Leiashvili, 2013).
According to G. Hegel (1997: 16), activity is “the unity of goals, means
and results presented in the process”. It is also necessary to take into
account our previous studies of activities in the eld of organizing and
holding elections to government bodies. Based on various aspects of
understanding activities, we dened activities in the eld of organizing and
holding elections to government bodies as a complex phenomenon. Finally,
we need to consider the achievements of scientic constitutionalism with
due regard to the elemental composition of a related institution, i.e., the
election process. As a result, we have concluded that the structure of
activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to government
bodies should be represented by the following composition of elements:
subjects, goals, objectives, principles, functions, means, methods, objects
and results.
The elemental composition of the structure of activities in the eld of
organizing and holding elections to government bodies we developed can
be somehow traced in the current election law. Thus, Federal Law No. 67-
FZ provides Chapter 4 “Election commissions, referendum commissions”
concerned with subjects of the activity under study; Article 3 “Principles of
conducting elections and referendums in the Russian Federation” denes
the basic principles for carrying out such activities, etc.
At the same time, there is no single systemic approach in relation to
such activities in election law. The legislator decided to regulate some of its
types, i.e., activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections of the
president (Federal Law Of The Russian Federation, 2003), deputies of the
parliament (Federal Law Of The Russian Federation, 2014), etc.
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Natalia Keshikova, Igor Demeshko
The concept and structure of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to
government bodies in the theory of constitutional law
3. Discussion
Within the framework of constitutional law, scholars studied certain
elements of the structure of activities in the eld of organizing and holding
elections to government bodies only in relation to the following institutions
of constitutional law: election law and election process, for example:
subjects (Biktagirov, 2010; Lebedeva, 2003; Uraev, 2006; Demyanov,
2018; Krasnov, 2000; Andrianova, 2013); principles (Mateikovich,
1998; Khudolei, 2007; Kuznetsova, 2010; Petrov, 2004; Tarovik, 2009;
Kravets, 2016); functions (Agaev, 2010; Vdovin, 2008; Kazachenko,
2005; Volobueva, 2005; Buchin, 2007); means (Zagainov, 2006; Getman,
2010; Samsonov, 2000; Gorbunov, 2000; Shubina, 2006), methods
(Zabotin, 2001; Malyukov, 2004; Knyazev, 1999a); objects (S.A. Belov, S.I.
Tsybulyak, V.M. Malinovskaya, P.A. Astachev, O.A. Pleshkova), results
(I.A. Borovikova, A.A. Prokhorov, V.N. Rudenko). At the same time, the
constituent elements of the structure of activity in the sphere of organizing
and holding elections to government bodies in their unity have not been the
subject of constitutional and legal research.
Despite a wide range of constitutional and legal studies of election law,
election process and procedure for organizing and holding elections, such
important elements of the structure of activities in the eld of organizing
and holding elections to government bodies as goals, tasks and functions
carried out to achieve the above-mentioned goals and implement tasks (the
main directions of the given activity) have remained understudied.
The signicance of such an element as a goal was emphasized by G.
Hegel in his dialectics of the structure of activity. It is not an accident
that this concept was called purposeful activity since it reveals the deep
interdetermination of a goal and its means (Hegel, 1974). G. Hegel’s ideas
were further developed in modern scientic works concerned with activity
types, in which authors consider the corresponding type of activity from the
teleological standpoint (Leiashvili, 2013).
Developing the initial doctrine, the authors included functions into the
structure of purposeful activity along with the goals. Purposeful activity
consists of actions, each of which has its own function. An action is the
unity of goals, means and results, in which the result is a function of means.
In this case, the result is a realized goal. Since the goal is to obtain resources
for other purposes and achieve other results, the means of some actions are
the functions that resulted from other actions (Leiashvili, 2013).
In other words, there is not a one-sided relationship between a purpose
and a function but rather a mutual relationship. Therefore, all the above-
mentioned elements (goals, means, functions and results) are mandatory
for the structure of activity. Without any of these elements, purposeful
activity loses its integrity and ceases to be an optimal system.
695
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Conclusion
Goals, objectives and functions were selected as the research subject
due to the specics of the legislator’s position that is contained in federal
election laws. These federal laws have no indications of the goals and
objectives of state policy in the eld of organizing and holding elections to
government bodies, as well as the goals and objectives of legal regulation
in this area. This legislator’s position resulted in the deformation of the
integral legislative structure. In general, this testies to the lameness and
ineciency of the legislative structure of Federal Law No. 67-FZ. It “got rid
of” such elements as goals and objectives, although their inclusion suggests
itself.
Why the legislator neglected these elements of the election law
necessary for the implementation of activities in the eld of organizing and
holding elections to government bodies remains a mystery. Furthermore,
the activities conducted in the eld of organizing and holding elections
to government bodies are purposeful, which is noted by almost all
constitutionalists. There is also a positive legislative practice of dening
the goals and objectives of state policy and legal regulation of relations
emerging in certain activities of society, state, and individuals.
The positive practice can be exemplied by codied federal laws. Thus,
the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation contains Article 2 “The Tasks
of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation” that denes the main
tasks of criminal regulation. The Housing Code of the Russian Federation
includes Article 1 “Main beginnings of the housing legislation” that provides
the objectives of housing legislation and Article 2 “Providing conditions for
implementation of the right to housing” that highlights the main activities
of state authorities and local self-governments to ensure conditions for the
exercise of civil rights to housing. Among the current federal laws, we should
mention Federal Law of December 29, 2012, No. 273-FZ “On Education in
the Russian Federation” which regulates activities in the eld of education.
This law contains Article 3 “The basic principles of state policy and legal
regulation of the relations in the eld of education” and Article 4 “Legal
regulation of the relations in the eld of education”. These two articles
clarify the goals and objectives of state policy in the eld of education and
the legal regulation of relations in this area. Federal Law of December 28,
2010, No. 390-FZ “On Safety” regulates security activities and comprises
Article 3 “Content of activities for safety” and Article 4 “State policy in the
eld of safety”. These establish the main goals and objectives, as well as the
directions of activities to ensure safety.
696
Natalia Keshikova, Igor Demeshko
The concept and structure of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to
government bodies in the theory of constitutional law
Recommendations
Guided by the existing positive practice of legal regulation of various
social activities, we need to comply with the constitutional and legal
regulation of activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to
government bodies in federal election laws with the functional-purposeful
method. While studying the structure of activities in the eld of organizing
and holding elections to government bodies, we should consider their goals,
objectives and functions through the functional-purposeful method, which
involves the study of goals and objectives through the prism of systemic
functions in the chosen sphere.
The teleological and functional analysis of such activities reveals
the essence of political and legal processes in the eld of organizing and
holding elections to government bodies and the logical formation of steps,
stages and cycles of actions and procedures for carrying out activities in
the established area. It also allows creating an optimal conceptual model of
both activities in the eld of organizing and holding elections to government
bodies and an integral, eective legislative structure of its constitutional
and legal regulation.
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