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The July 2, 2000, electoral victory of Vicente Fox of the opposition National Action Party (PAN) as president of Mexico marked an historic turning point in that country’s political development. The ouster from power of Mexico’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) after seventy-one years promised to rupture the long-time alliance between organized labor, the state, and the PRI. A transition to a democratic political regime would create new opportunities for the struggling independent labor movement in Mexico. More importantly, a political transition would make possible for the first time a shift away from an authoritarian-corporatist system of industrial relations toward a democratic model of labor governance.

This paper aims to discuss reasons for the failure of the 2020 postal-vote election reform in Poland and examine opinions of Poles on voting methods. The main goal is to answer the following research question: Which of the alternative voting methods – postal or electronic – would Poles prefer?

The approach is quantitative and based on the statistical analysis of voters’ attitudes toward alternative voting methods, in particular postal voting.

The main finding is that out of all voting methods available, most Poles favor electronic voting as a potential alternative to voting in person. On a general level, the conclusions from the Polish case highlight the need to establish special requirements and standards for democratic elections during emergency situations. The unsuccessful implementation of all-postal voting in Poland is an example of how changes to the law should not be made, especially when public health and democratic standards are at stake.

The paper presents practical implications and recommendations for state authorities and electoral administration while implementing electoral reforms, extending the list of available voting channels, and running elections – especially in extraordinary situations.

This paper adds to the knowledge on alternative voting channels, including their implementation during a pandemic. The Polish case is also relevant for other countries as regards safe and democratic elections during emergency situations. Policymakers are expected to benefit from the insight, as the results originate in public opinion polls and identify voting channels favored by citizens

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether companies that donate to winning electoral campaigns are more aggressive in terms of tax planning than companies that do not make these contributions. The relationship between politicians and companies may be signaled by political connections in which companies try to get political benefits in exchange for providing politicians with campaign financing. The hypothesis is that a quid pro quo occurs in which these companies benefit from favorable tax treatment that reduces their relative tax burden.

The focus of this study is donations that were made in the presidential elections of 2010 and 2014. The sample covers the period between 2010 and 2016 for companies listed on the B3 Stock Exchange, using proxies for tax aggressiveness computed based on value-added reporting. Through linear regressions, the authors have tested whether the companies that made these campaign contributions tend to have a lower tax burden.

The proposed hypothesis was confirmed, revealing that a political connection between campaign donations reduces the tax burden for donating companies during the years following the election. These donations appear to depict an environment characterized by an exchange of favors in which the donating companies exhibit greater tax aggressiveness than non-donating companies.

The current study deals with a subject that has not yet been examined empirically in Brazil and reinforces the position adopted by the Supreme Court in prohibiting campaign donations to inhibit quid pro quo practices. The study offers additional arguments for the criminalization of the so-called “second set of books” used to record electoral campaign contributions.