How do elections promote democracy?
Elections are seen as the essential part of democracy and elections is derived from the concept of democracy. Elections are seen as the voice of the people, which compliments the idea of democracy. We also assume that we are provided freedom of speech and we can vote freely without any reason and voting is done in a secret ballot.
However, I don’t believe you are given full freedom of speech because you are being told what to do, as you are limited to a few candidates and by voting for a single party your not really given the opportunity to agree and to voice your opinion. You might not agree with every single policy that the party has promised but they are better than the choices that are there, so you are limited and you have no choice you have to vote or forget it, your opinion is lost.
The Media is also allowed to freely investigate the party and criticise them, but I believe this is giving the public less choice to make decisions as we are being indoctrinated by propaganda. Also in a representative democracy, like ours there is a system of accountability, which means that actions and policies must be explained, justified and open to debate therefore inconsistencies may be recognised, and in extreme circumstances, ministers or the government as a whole may be forced to resign by the commons. This limits our roles, as it is the House of Commons that have the say and the member’s of the House of Commons are elected by Mp’s. Mp’s although are held accountable and can be removed by the people of their constituency. So, in this way the people have the control over their representatives.
In elections the candidates have to produce policies and persuade you to vote them. They are exposed to you; therefore the methods of the election system promote democracy, but the winner of the general election might not be the true winner because rally the majority should be over the 50 percent mark however sometimes a party might receive less than the majority mark but still be a winner which isn’t a fair and contradicts the concept of democracy. However I must admit that in some cases parties do have a comfortable marginal seat.
Britain often holds a general election every four to five years which makes it fair and does promote democracy because if you elected a representative and they have not exactly done their best to improve or restore the nation or constituency you can elect another party or representative the next time.
During, the elections there are officials to monitor and arrange the elections but this idea contradicts the main principal of elections which is that it should be confidential despite they might have sworn an oath they might still be able to remember you and your vote.
Each party enters an election campaign with a manifesto and if he or she should win the election, the manifesto is expected to form the basis of its actions.
Elections encourages participation and involves the public with politics and I believe that is the most important reason because it definitely does promote democracy and it is the fundamental reason why democracy is defined as the government by the people. Holding elections dose not shun the people out of politics and what is affecting them.
Generally, elections do promote democracy because we can freely vote. Despite, there is a limit to democracy. We are able to vote for any party without any reason and done confidential. Unlike, some of the rest of part of the world.