Pre-election campaigning: with regards to the issue of doctrinal comprehension

It is pointed out that in today’s conditions, when the development of technologies radically and relentlessly transforms communication processes in all spheres of life, poses numerous urgent challenges to the legislator regarding the regulation of fundamentally new social relations, election campaigning is also undergoing significant evolutionary changes. At the same time, it is extremely important for the regulator to respond promptly and effectively to them, because the democracy and fairness of the elections themselves de facto depends on the quality and compliance with the current norms that regulate relations regarding the conduct of pre-election campaigning during the election process, because it is precisely in the field of campaigning activities that the most advanced technologies of mass consciousness influence and manipulation. Therefore, ensuring the implementation of the principles of free and fair elections is directly correlated with the proper regulation of the processes that affect the formation of the will and the exercise of will by the electoral corps, first of all, the conduct of election campaigns of the relevant subjects. The article presents a comprehensive analysis of the concept of «pre-election campaigning» and its relationship with the concepts of «campaigning», «propaganda». The genesis of the phenomena, the peculiarities of their regulation in national and foreign legal doctrine, as well as within related sciences are investigated. Key attention is focused on the history of the development of phenomena, their nature, essence, goals, forms and tools used to operate the outlined categories, their comparison and establishment of relationships between them. Various approaches to understanding the concepts were analyzed, their perception in national and Western legal traditions was compared. On the basis of an interdisciplinary analysis of concepts, an improved definition of pre-election campaigning is proposed, taking into account the modern context and current understanding issues. In addition, based on the results of the research, a conclusion was formed about the need for further detailed research of certain aspects of pre-election campaigning in connection with the internal transformation of the forms and tools of the phenomenon at its current stage of development.