WHY FEAR OF RECALL FOR ELECTED OFFICIALS?

Abstract

Recall of elected officials as an important political and legitimate mechanism is becoming
increasingly important throughout the world. Popularity of recall elections is becoming stronger
with every passing day. "The right to recall of elected representatives", together with "the right
of defending the electoral platform (the electoral programme)" are getting a key place in the
fundamental structure of the universal democracy. When one person comes to power based on a
"electoral programme or platform", that programme takes over the role of political agreement
between the elected representative and the voters, whereas the elected representative, as every
other party in any agreement, is obliged to respect what was agreed. The dilemma whether the
universal democracy gives to the voters an "undeniable right" to decide to recall their elected
representative if there is a reasonable doubt about his/her work, or even proves for misuse of
his/her position, is constantly present within the expert circles as a topic for discussion.
Therefore, the right to recall is permanently seen through the prism of this dilemma. Whether
recall is a good democratic instrument that can, or should increase the political responsibility of
the elected officials in the political system is a very frequently asked question.
The voters continuously express the need to get rid of corrupted politicians and the criminal
government representatives. This conclusion is mostly present when their right to recall elected
officials suspected or caught in criminal activity is explained. This is why the fundamental goal
of the recall is to secure good governance in the country, offered through the possibility to
remove the corrupted officials from the leadership in cases when they consciously misused the
voters' trust.