Democracy

• Democracy


  A form of government in which the rulers are elected by the people
• The government is chosen by the people in all democracies
• The army rulers of Myanmar were not elected by the people
• Dictators like Pinochet (Chile) are not elected by the people
• The kings of Saudi Arabia rule not because the people have chosen them to do so but because they happen to be born into the royal family
• This simple definition of democracy is not adequate
• Every government in the contemporary world wants to be called a democracy, even if it is not so
• We need to carefully distinguish between a government that is a democracy and one that pretends to be one
• We can do so by understanding each word in the definition of democracy carefully and spelling out the features of a democratic government
• In Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf led a military coup in October 1999. He overthrew a democratically elected government and declared himself the ‘Chief Executive’ of the country. Later he changed his designation to President and in 2002 held a referendum in the country that granted him a fiveyear extension. Pakistani media, human rights organisations and democracy activists said that the referendum was based on malpractices and fraud.
• . In August 2002 he issued a ‘Legal Framework Order’ that amended the Constitution of Pakistan
• . According to this Order, the President can dismiss the national and provincial assemblies. The work of the civilian cabinet is supervised by a National Security Council which is dominated by military officers.
• After passing this law, elections were held to the national and provincial assemblies.
• So Pakistan has had elections, elected representatives have some powers. But the final power rested with military officers and General Musharraf himself
• People may have elected their representatives to the national and provincial assemblies but those elected representatives were not really the rulers
• They cannot take the final decisions
• The power to take final decision rested with army officials and with General Musharraf, and none of them were elected by the people
• This happens in many dictatorships and monarchies
• They formally have an elected parliament and government but the real power is with those who are not elected
• In a few countries, the real power was with some external powers and not with locally elected representatives
• This cannot be called people's rule
• In China, elections are regularly held after every five years for electing the country's parliament, called Quanguo Renmin Daibiao Dahui (National People's Congress)
• National People's Congress


  Has the power to appoint the President of the country
• The National People's Congress has nearly 3,000 members elected from all over China
• Some members of the National People's Congress are elected by the army
• Contesting elections in China


  1. Candidate needs the approval of the Chinese Communist Party

  2. Only members of the Chinese Communist Party or eight smaller parties allied to it were allowed to contest elections held in 2002-03
• The government in China is always formed by the Communist Party
• Since is independence in 1930 Mexico holds elections after every six years to elect its president.
• The country has never been under any military or dictator’s rule.
• But until 2000 every election was won by a party called the PRI( institutional revolutionary party).
• Opposition parties did contest but never managed to win.
• The PRI was known to use many dirty tricks to win the elections.
• The people employed in government offices had to attend its party meetings.
• Teachers of government schools forced parents to vote for the PRI.
• Media largely ignored the activities of opposition political parties except to criticise them
• Sometimes the polling booths were shifted from one place to another in the last minute, which made it difficult for people to cast their votes
• The PRI spent a large sum of money in the campaign for its candidates
• We cannot consider the elections described above as examples of people electing their rulers
• In China the elections do not offer the people any serious choice. They have to choose the ruling party and the candidates approved by it
• In the Mexican example, people seemed to really have a choice but in practice they had no choice. There was no way the ruling party could be defeated, even if people were against it