What is the basic meaning of democracy?
A form of government in which the rulers are elected by the people.
Democracy is a form of government in which:
Rulers elected by the people take all the major decisions.
In a democracy the final decision making power must rest with those elected by the people. If the real power was with some external powers and not with locally elected representatives. This cannot be called people’s rule.
Elections offer a choice and fair opportunity to the people to change the current rulers.
A democracy must be based on a free and fair election where those currently in power have a fair chance of losing. Holding elections of any kind is not sufficient. The elections must offer a real choice between political alternatives. And it should be possible for people to use this choice to remove the existing rulers, if they wish so.
This choice and opportunity is available to all the people on an equal basis.
Democracy is based on a fundamental principle of political equality. In a democracy, each adult citizen must have one vote and each vote must have one value.
The exercise of this choice leads to a government limited by basic rules of the constitution and citizens’ rights.
There should be sufficient room for normal political activity, including political opposition, in the period before elections. The state should respect some basic rights of the citizen. They should be free to think, to have opinions, to express these in public, to form associations, to protest and take other political actions. Everyone should be equal in the eyes of law. These rights must be protected by an independent judiciary whose orders are obeyed by everyone.
A democratic government cannot do whatever it likes, simply because it has won an election. It has to respect some basic rules.
A democratic government rules within limits set by constitutional law and citizens’ rights.
