Editing Election (section)

=== Shams ===
[[File:Economist_Intelligence_Unit_Democracy_Index_2024.svg|alt=|thumb|upright=1.2|The 2024 [[Economist Intelligence Unit]] ''[[The Economist Democracy Index|Democracy Index]]'' map]]

{{Anchor|Show election}}
{{Anchor|Sham election}}
A '''sham election''', or '''show election''', is an election that is held purely for show; that is, without any significant political choice or real impact on the results of the election.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://definitions.uslegal.com/s/sham-election/|title=Sham Election Law and Legal Definition |publisher=USLegal, Inc.|access-date=14 July 2018}}</ref>

Sham elections are a common event in [[Dictatorship|dictatorial regimes]] that feel the need to feign the appearance of public [[Legitimacy (political)|legitimacy]]. Published results usually show nearly 100% [[voter turnout]] and high support (typically at least 80%, and close to 100% in many cases) for the prescribed candidates or for the [[referendum]] choice that favours the [[political party]] in power. Dictatorial regimes can also organize sham elections with results simulating those that might be achieved in democratic countries.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/kim-jong-un-wins-100-of-the-vote-in-north-korean-elections-9180814.html | title=Kim Jong-un wins 100% of the vote in his constituency| website=[[The Independent]]| date=10 March 2014}}</ref>

Sometimes, only one government-approved candidate is allowed to run in sham elections with no opposition candidates allowed, or opposition candidates are arrested on false charges (or even without any charges) before the election to prevent them from running.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2012/02/21/world/meast/yemen-elections/index.html|title=Yemen holds presidential election with one candidate|first=Mohammed |last=Jamjoom|publisher=[[CNN]]|date=21 February 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/29/egyptian-opposition-calls-boycott-elections-challengers-arrested/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/01/29/egyptian-opposition-calls-boycott-elections-challengers-arrested/ |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Egyptian opposition calls for boycott of elections after challengers are arrested and attacked |first1=Raf |last1=Sanchez |first2=Magdy |last2=Samaan |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]|date=29 January 2018}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="urlAlexei Navalny latest: Russian opposition leader arrested ahead of presidential election | The Independent">{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/alexei-navalny-latest-updates-russia-president-election-opposition-leader-putin-protests-a8222956.html |title=Alexei Navalny latest: Russian opposition leader arrested ahead of presidential election |website=The Independent |date=22 February 2018 }}</ref>

Ballots may contain only one "yes" option, or in the case of a simple "yes or no" question, security forces often [[Persecution|persecute]] people who pick "no", thus encouraging them to pick the "yes" option. In other cases, those who vote receive stamps in their passport for doing so, while those who did not vote (and thus do not receive stamps) are persecuted as [[Enemy of the people|enemies of the people]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,764407,00.html|title=Russia: Justice in The Baltic|date=19 August 1940|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|access-date=14 July 2018|issn=0040-781X}}</ref><ref name="urlYes, There Are Elections in North Korea and Heres How They Work - The Atlantic">{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2014/03/north-korea-elections-guide/358875/ |title=Yes, There Are Elections in North Korea and Here's How They Work |website=[[The Atlantic]] |date=6 March 2014 }}</ref>

Sham elections can sometimes backfire against the party in power, especially if the regime believes they are popular enough to win without coercion, fraud or suppressing the opposition. The most famous example of this was the [[1990 Myanmar general election]], in which the government-sponsored [[National Unity Party (Myanmar)|National Unity Party]] suffered a landslide defeat by the opposition [[National League for Democracy]] and consequently, the results were annulled.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2010/05/26/burma-20-years-after-1990-elections-democracy-still-denied|title=Burma: 20 Years After 1990 Elections, Democracy Still Denied|date=26 May 2010|work=Human Rights Watch|access-date=14 July 2018}}</ref>

[[File:Wahlzettel-3.-Reich.jpg|thumb|right|A ballot from the [[1936 German parliamentary election and referendum|1936 elections in Nazi Germany]]]]
[[File:Stimmzettel-Anschluss.jpg|thumb|right|A ballot from the [[1938 German parliamentary election and referendum|1938 elections in Nazi Germany]] asking voters to approve the new [[Reichstag (Nazi Germany)|Reichstag]] and the [[Anschluss]]. The "no" box was made significantly smaller than the "yes" box.]]

Examples of sham elections include: the [[1929 Italian general election|1929]] and [[1934 Italian general election|1934]] [[Elections in Italy|elections]] in [[Kingdom of Italy|Fascist Italy]], the [[1942 Japanese general election|1942 general election]] in [[Empire of Japan|Imperial Japan]], those in [[elections in Nazi Germany|Nazi Germany]], [[Elections_in_Germany#German_Democratic_Republic|East Germany]] other than the election in 1990, the [[People's Parliament|1940 elections of Stalinist "People's Parliaments"]] to legitimise the [[Occupation of the Baltic States|Soviet occupation]] of [[Estonia]], [[Latvia]] and [[Lithuania]], those in [[Elections in Egypt|Egypt]] under [[Gamal Abdel Nasser]], [[Anwar Sadat]], [[Hosni Mubarak]], and [[Abdel Fattah el-Sisi]], those in [[Elections in Bangladesh|Bangladesh]] under [[Sheikh Hasina]], those in [[Elections in Russia|Russia]] under [[Vladimir Putin]],<ref>{{cite web | url=https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5hY2FzdC5jb20vcHVibGljL3Nob3dzLzY1ODMwMTJlNzE1ZDUzMDAxNjlkY2RjYg/episode/NjVmNDc4M2NlNzY3NDUwMDE2MmQxMjgx?sa=X&ved=0CAUQkfYCahkKEwjoq_mC0PeEAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQxMUB | title=Google Podcasts }}</ref> those in Syria under [[Hafez Al-Assad]] and his son [[Bashar Al-Assad]], those in [[Elections in Venezuela|Venezuela]] Under [[Hugo Chavez]] and [[Nicolas Maduro]] and most Notably in [[2018 Venezuelan presidential election|2018]] and [[2024 Venezuelan presidential election|2024]], the [[1928 Portuguese presidential election|1928]], [[1935 Portuguese presidential election|1935]], [[1942 Portuguese presidential election|1942]], [[1949 Portuguese presidential election|1949]], [[1951 Portuguese presidential election|1951]] and [[1958 Portuguese presidential election|1958 election]]s in Portugal, those in [[Elections in Indonesia|Indonesia]] during [[New Order (Indonesia)|New Order]] regime, those in [[Elections in Belarus|Belarus]] and Most Notably in [[2020 Belarusian presidential election|2020]], the [[1991 Kazakh presidential election|1991]] and [[2019 Kazakh presidential election]]s, those in [[Elections in North Korea|North Korea]],<ref name="time_Insi">{{Cite magazine | title = Inside North Korea's sham election | author =  Emily Rauhala | magazine = Time | date = 10 March 2014 | access-date = 4 July 2015 | url = https://time.com/17720/north-korea-election-a-sham-worth-studying/ }}</ref> the [[1995 Iraqi presidential referendum|1995]] and [[2002 Iraqi presidential referendum|2002 presidential referendum]]s in [[Ba'athist Iraq|Saddam Hussein's Iraq]].

In [[Mexico]], all of the presidential elections from [[1929 Mexican general election|1929]] to [[1982 Mexican general election|1982]] are considered to be sham elections, as the [[Institutional Revolutionary Party]] (PRI) and its predecessors governed the country in a ''de facto'' single-party system without serious opposition, and they won all of the presidential elections in that period with more than 70% of the vote. The first seriously competitive presidential election in modern Mexican history was that of [[1988 Mexican general election|1988]], in which for the first time the PRI candidate faced two strong opposition candidates, though it is believed that the government rigged the result. The first fair election was held in [[1994 Mexican general election|1994]], though the opposition did not win until [[2000 Mexican general election|2000]].

A predetermined conclusion is permanently established by the regime through [[Political repression|suppression]] of the opposition, [[coercion]] of voters, [[Electoral fraud|vote rigging]], reporting several votes received greater than the number of voters, outright lying, or some combination of these. In an extreme example, [[Charles D. B. King]] of [[Liberia]] was reported to have won by 234,000 votes in the [[1927 Liberian general election|1927 general election]], a "majority" that was over fifteen times larger than the number of eligible voters.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.liberiapastandpresent.org/1927ElectionsMF.htm|title=Liberia past and present 1927 elections|access-date=14 July 2018|archive-date=20 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171120205806/http://www.liberiapastandpresent.org/1927ElectionsMF.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>