Voluntary participation in elections as one of the fundamental principles of the implementation of the constitutional right to protest

The article deals with the problem of increasing the level of absenteeism among voters both in the Russian Federation and abroad. With a low voter turnout, there is a risk that State or local government bodies will be illegitimate in the current situation. As a solution, there is an opinion among legal scholars that it is necessary to introduce a mandatory vote, but in this case, there is a question of compliance with the principle of voluntary participation in elections enshrined in the Constitution of the Russian Federation, as well as the right of citizens to political protest. The article analyzes the experience of foreign countries whose electoral systems contain various types of sanctions for ignoring the civil debt.