Elections are a mechanism by which people choose their representatives at regular intervals and change them if they wish to do so. People can choose the one who will make laws for them.
They can choose who will form the government and take major decisions. They can choose the one party whose policies will guide the government and law making. So, Elections are considered essential for representative democracy.
But are these elections actually democratic? Do they actually represent the true opinion of the public? In this article, we are going to answer exactly that by taking the political systems of some countries as an example.
They can choose who will form the government and take major decisions. They can choose the one party whose policies will guide the government and law making. So, Elections are considered essential for representative democracy.
But are these elections actually democratic? Do they actually represent the true opinion of the public? In this article, we are going to answer exactly that by taking the political systems of some countries as an example.
What makes a country democratic? The word democracy is actually a very vague concept and can have different meanings depending on to whom you are talking to but still, the general consensus is that the people should have a say in as to who forms the government, who becomes the head of the State or of the Government and as to who makes laws for them. For this to happen, a country holds free and fair elections so that people of all different kinds of political opinions have the right to choose the person they want.
But let us take a few examples which prove otherwise.
Myanmar
Myanmar has a history of violent military rule but Myanmar adopted a new army-drafted constitution in 2008 by which multi-party elections in 2010 would end 5 decades of military rule. But still, the new charter gives the military an automatic 25% of seats in parliament. The general elections held on 8 November 2015 were the first openly contested elections held in Myanmar since 1990.
Even though the president is democratically elected by the people and is the head of state and head of government, and oversees the executive branch and the Cabinet of Myanmar, almost all the power lies in the hands of the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services. The People's Assembly consists of 440 representatives, with 110 being military personnel nominated by the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services and The House of Nationalities consists of 224 representatives with 56 being military personnel nominated by the Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Services.
The Commander-in-chief of Defense Services has right to appoint 25% of members in all legislative assembly which means that the legislation cannot be Supermajority without his support, thus preventing from democratically elected members to amend 2008 Constitution of Myanmar which is not created by Burmese citizens. He can also directly appoint ministers in Ministry of Defence which in turn controls Myanmar Armed Forces and Myanmar Economic Corporation which is the largest economic corporation in Myanmar, Ministry of Border Affairs which control border affairs of the country and Ministry of Home Affairs which in turn control Myanmar police forces and administration of the whole country.
So, if most of the power is still in the hands of the military, what is the use of holding elections?
USA
So, if most of the power is still in the hands of the military, what is the use of holding elections?
USA
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