When Politicians Lie, Betray, and Deceive Us, We Should Have the Right to Say:

 That's Enough!

This occurs all the time: a politician is elected with campaign promises, but once elected they decide to break those promises or change them entirely; a regional representative sells out their own constituents; a president tries to undermine democracy or enrich themselves. What can we realistically do against that? Some parliaments and courts can try to impeach, but that rarely works and usually depends on political majorities. But what can we as “normal people” realistically do about it? Nothing. Once an election is over, we have to wait for years before we can even try to replace the people in charge. That is problematic. Enter the concept of recallability.  

Dáil Chamber Silent and Empty, photograph by unknown author (c. post-1920s). Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

What does recallability mean? It means that elected officials are held accountable for their actions by those who elected them. Imagine this: your district elects a representative, with elections held every 4 years. Under normal circumstances, if they misrepresent their district while in office or abuse their power, you would have to wait 4 years until they are gone. The concept of recallability, however, allows voters to take back their mandate—to hold officials politically accountable right then and there. How does it work? Usually, it is not enough that one or two voters are discontent. Instead, a certain percentage of the original voters must turn away from the candidate they elected. In essence, recallability is a system of holding elected officials accountable by those who chose them in the first place. 

Where does this concept come from? While this concept is a democratic idea in its ideal form, and has been applied in modern democracies (more on that later), the original roots are socialist in nature. It first appeared in the short-lived Commune of Paris in 1871, where recallability was applied to politicians as well as to other bureaucrats and judges. This strongly inspired Marxism and later Leninism, and was propagated as a Soviet ideal. Indeed, it was even enshrined in the Stalin-era constitution of 1936. 

Does that mean that the Soviet Union was more democratic than the West? No, because it was never implemented in a democratic way. It was a form of propaganda to appear more democratic than Western democracies. In reality, candidates were recalled from the top-down to purge any opposition. In addition, recalls had to be approved by the leadership of the Communist Party. Not to mention the fear of retribution if a district wanted to recall a pro-government official as a form of protest. We all know where these people would be sent to. 

Rally in Favor of the 2004 Recall Referendum Against Hugo Chávez, Caracas, photograph by Carlos Granier-Phelps (2001). Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons. 

Where does this leave us? Did the system die with the Soviet Union? Luckily, it did not completely die! California is one of the few states in the US with active recalls. Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected in 2003 through a recall election in California, in which he replaced Gray Davis. Similarly, Taiwan has implemented recalls, as has British Columbia in Canada. The system lives on. 

Do people support the concept of recallability? They do! All sources indicate that a great majority of people consistently support upholding recallability. However, since elections are generally very expensive, many voters feel that specific recall elections are at times unnecessary. Recalls in Taiwan (2025), for example, failed as the process was seen more as a protest against overusing the power of recalls. However, this might be an agreeable price to pay for serious accountability. Elections are always expensive, and yet, we would not be free without them. Recall elections will cost money, but they will give us, the people, more power. This is why they are popular wherever they are implemented under law. 

We are living in a world in which recalls can be a real possibility. We live in a modern world. There could be an app to make recall elections and petitions easy to access while saving costs. Imagine this: you have the option of voting a politician out whenever you want, just by pressing a button. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? There could be an AI platform monitoring whether a politician has gone back on their promises or if their policies have caused harm. We might not be ready to fully trust AI yet, but having a neutral outlet—AI or not—is feasible. And perhaps necessary. Just think of Trump. It is no secret how quickly he has turned the American population against him within just a few months of his second term. Never has a president polled so low, so quickly. And it is no surprise why. We have no peace, there is a trade war, and the Epstein files are being hidden. The world could be a better place if the American population had the chance of getting him out of office. Lives would be saved, economic malpractice would be stopped, and he and others could be held accountable. Instead, we are stuck with three more years of this. Imagine if this could be changed. 

Whether recallability can be applied in our modern society, and how, remains a question to discuss. But it should definitely be discussed. People are happy when they have the option of holding politicians accountable. And we would be too. 

Published 1st of September, 2025

Michael Alexander Volkonsky is a 21-year-old economics student at Lund University, a science communicator exploring interdisciplinary issues, and an advocate for open debate and critical thinking.

Published 26th of September in www.theperspective.se