  Nowadays, in societies threatened by atomization, selfishness, short-term
thinking, and alienation from political life, there is a renewed debate about
classical questions concerning the quality of democratic decision-making. In
this work a cellular automata (CA) model for the dynamics of free elections
based on the social impact theory is proposed. By using computer simulations,
power law distributions for the size of electoral clusters and decision time
have been obtained. The major role of broadcasted electoral surveys in guiding
opinion formation and stabilizing the ``{\it status quo}'' was demonstrated.
Furthermore, it was shown that in societies where these surveys are manipulated
within the universally accepted statistical error bars, even a majoritary
opposition could be hindered from reaching the power through the electoral
path.
