One power can only be restricted and balanced by another. The problem is that centers of power in public life always have a tendency to expand at the expense of other centers. The constitution is supposed to ensure that mechanisms are in place to maintain an adequate balance between the three centers of power. The discussion over whether the Czech Republic should have a referendum provision in its constitution is an example of how these basic principles have been questioned. Perhaps those Czech politicians who oppose referendums as a form of direct democracy don t realize that their arguments serve to cast doubt on the right of the people to express their sovereignty in a democratic system by voting.
People can also express their sovereignty through the right to boycott elections.
This may seem banal in an era when voter participation in national elections can run as low as 50 percent in some Western democracies, but it wasn t always like that. Until recently, participation in elections was still mandatory in some democratic states. In Czechoslovakia, where voting was mandatory between the two world wars, the right to boycott all of the candidates in an election was secured in 1946 after one of the fiercest political battles of that era. Various solutions Over the last few years, the European democracies have strengthened the executive branch of power in the interests of the state. The proportional electoral system, originally intended to improve the representation of minorities in politics, has led to repeated governmental crises in Western Europe.