Abstract
Representative democracy has been the most legitimate form of government in advanced countries. Elections are an essential part of it. However, the contents of votes used in elections are essentially vague. We cannot know with certainty the reasons why people vote for a party or a candidate. The vote differs from other kinds of political participation in being a rather blunt instrument for communicating the needs and preferences of the people. We will examine the problems related to its important aspects such as representation, majorities, electoral declarations, party mandates, and electoral instrumentality from the perspective of the essential vagueness of votes and election results. This reminds us of Winston Churchill's famous remark that “no one pretends that democracy is perfect or all wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.” We are required to treat democracy with care like a fragile product.
