1656 Jo Shaw substantial rapid drop in all types of protest activities as soon as the pandemic took hold and lockdowns were established, followed by a subsequent rise.135 Based on the analysis of previous pandemics and epidemics, this is the pattern that is to be expected. However, over the longer term, the intersections between conflicts related to the pandemic itself and the existing areas of political conflict that engender protest are likely to be complex.136 The same can be said of civic and political engagement within democracies, where early evidence highlights that pandemic conditions largely reproduce existing political inequalities, although threat perceptions in relation to the ongoing challenge of the pandemic may be giving rise to changed patterns of engagement and protest.137 There are clearly practical problems involved in running elections during a pandemic. These are well exemplified by the case of Croatia, where the Constitutional Court held that it was constitutional for measures to be taken to restrict access to voting in person in the case of those who had tested positive for COVID-19 and to make alternative arrangements for them to vote.138 In view of the inevitable levels of disruption, the question arises as to whether it is more or less democratic to go ahead with the election or to postpone it.139 The holding of elections is likely, at the very least, to be more expensive than in “normal times,” given the costs of social distancing and other measures to protect voters, candidates, and poll workers.140 The usual integrity and fairness problems regarding information around elections and campaigning are bound to arise—including access to broadcast and print media—and it is clear that the pandemic raises the stakes around issues of “truth” and makes the relationship between scientific expertise and political communications more complex than ever.141 Singapore offers an interesting example of a country where elections went ahead despite the pandemic, and where some of the changed conditions brought about by the pandemic, including a greater degree of interaction between citizens and state authorities, may have led to greater democratic consolidation.142 In the Vienna City Elections, governmental responses to COVID-19, see COVID-19 Government Response Tracker, UNIV. OXFORD, https://www.bsg.ox.ac. uk/research/research-projects/covid-19-government-response-tracker; COVID-19 Civic Freedom Tracker, ICNL & ECNL, https://www.icnl.org/covid19tracker; Global Democracy & Pandemic Tracker, DEM-DEC, https://www.democratic-decay. org/covid-dem. 135 Christopher McCrudden, Democracy, Protests, and Covid-19: The Challenge of (and for) Human Rights, UK CONST. L. BLOG (Jun. 19, 2020), https://ukconstitutionallaw.org/2020/06/19/christopher-mccrudden-democracy-protests-and-covid-19the-challenge-of-and-for-human-rights/. 136 Roberto Censolo & Massimo Morelli, COVID-19 and the Potential Consequences for Social Stability, 26(3) PEACE ECON., PEACE SCI. AND PUB. POL’Y 20200045 (2020). 137 Endre Borbáth, Sophia Hunger, Swen Hutter, & Ioana-Elena Oana, Civic and Political Engagement During the Multifaceted COVID-19 Crisis, 27 SWISS POL. SCI. REV. 311 (2021). 138 Judgment of the Constitutional Court of Croatia of July 3, 2020, U-VII-2980/2020. For summary, see COUNCIL OF EUROPE, CODICES, http://www.codices.coe.int./. 139 For detailed data, see Global Overview of COVID-19: Impact on Elections, INTERNATIONAL IDEA, https://www.idea.int/ news-media/multimedia-reports/global-overview-covid-19-impact-elections. Toby S. James & Sead Alihodzic, When Is It Democratic to Postpone an Election? Elections During Natural Disasters, COVID-19, and Emergency Situations, 19(3) ELECTION L.J. 344 (2020); Todd Landman & Luca Di Gennaro Splendore, Pandemic Democracy: Elections and COVID19, 23(7–8) J. RISK RSCH. 1060 (2020). Reviewing some of the international practice, see Graeme Orr, Voting in a Pandemic: Lessons from International Experience, GLOBALCIT (May 6, 2020), https://globalcit.eu/voting-in-a-pandemiclessons-from-international-experience/. On the specific case of the US elections in November 2020, see Richard L. Hasen, Three Pathologies of American Voting Rights Illuminated by the COVID-19 Pandemic, and How to Treat and Cure Them, 19(3) ELECTION L.J. 263 (2020). 140 Christopher R. Deluzio, Elizabeth Howard, David Levine, Paul Rosenzweig, & Derek Tisler, Ensuring Safe Elections: Federal Funding Needs for State and Local Governments During the Pandemic, BRENNAN CTR. JUST., (Apr. 30, 2020), https://securingdemocracy.gmfus.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Ensuring-Safe-Elections.pdf. 141 For a general argument about the relationship between truth and democracy, see Sten Hansson & Sandra Kröger, How a Lack of Truthfulness Can Undermine Democratic Representation: The Case of Post-referendum Brexit Discourses, BRITISH J. POL. AND INT’L RELS, (Dec. 14, 2020). 142 Shirin Chua & Jaclyn L. Neo, COVID-19 as an Opportunity for Democratic Consolidation? Law, Politics, and Citizen-State Interactions in Singapore, VERFBLOG (Feb. 24, 2021), https://verfassungsblog.de/covid-19-as-an-opportunity-for-democraticconsolidation/. https://doi.org/10.1017/glj.2021.77 Published online by Cambridge University Press