The Process of Local Elections

Abstract

The fundamental prerequisite for representative government is that the public has an opportunity to elect representatives (the only alternative is that they represent themselves as in a popular assembly) who play a responsible role in the governing process. W. J. M. Mackenzie in his book Free Elections maintains “that free elections though not a supreme end are yet a device of the highest value, because no one has invented a better political contrivance for securing in large societies two conditions necessary for the maintenance of government in any society. First, elections can create a sentiment of popular consent and participation in public affairs even when government is so complex as to be beyond the direct understanding of the ordinary citizen. Secondly, elections can provide for orderly succession in government, by the peaceful transfer of authority to new rulers when the time comes for the old rulers to go, because of mortality or because of failure.”¹