Issues of the Legal Nature of the Authenticity of the Expression of the People's Will in the Exercise of the Highest Forms of Direct Democracy

The subject of the research is social relations arising during the implementation of the highest forms of direct democracy, specifically the legal nature of the authenticity of the people's and citizens' expression of will. The author examines the interdisciplinary understanding of authenticity in semantics, epistemology, and legal sciences, focusing on its application in procedural law and evidence theory. Electoral legislation and constitutional practice, where the term is used fragmentarily, mainly regarding vote counting, are analyzed. The study investigates the complex relationship between individual and collective expression of will, and the problem of establishing their correspondence to objective reality and the true, free will of electoral participants. Special attention is given to identifying the narrow and broad meanings of this category, forming a system of rebuttable legal presumptions ensuring the legitimacy of voting results and public trust. The methodological framework includes formal-logical, comparative-legal, and epistemological analysis, alongside legal modeling to substantiate the system of legal presumptions. The scientific novelty lies in the comprehensive constitutional-legal comprehension of the authenticity of the people's expression of will and the theoretical substantiation of its dualistic nature. For the first time, the study distinguishes authenticity in the narrow sense (the correspondence of the final protocol to the actual expression of will) and the broad sense (the correspondence to the true and free will of the people, including all factors influencing its formation). Three rebuttable legal presumptions are formulated: the correspondence of a citizen's will to their ballot expression; the correspondence of the people's will to the collective voting result; and the correspondence of the vote count to the official results. The study concludes on the necessity of doctrinal and legislative consolidation of these presumptions to ensure the political system's legitimacy and protect citizens' electoral rights from direct or hidden distortions.