Distrust in elections spreads in democracies around the world

Distrust in the cleanliness of electoral processes, dissatisfaction with government management and a negative view of justice. These are some of the perceptions about the functioning of democracy from voters in 19 countries on five continents in which the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), based in Stockholm (Sweden), carried out a survey between July 2023 and January of this year. The report is “a wake-up call for democracies,” the secretary general of International IDEA, Kevin Casas-Zamora, points out in a statement, that “they must respond to the skepticism of their public,” improve “governance” and combat a “growing culture of misinformation that has fostered false accusations against credible elections.”

The survey was carried out in three of the largest democracies in the world: Brazil, India and the United States, and in countries such as Denmark, Lithuania, Iraq, Colombia, Chile, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Taiwan. In total, the countries analyzed represent around a third of the world's population.

According to data from the study – the organization's first focused on perceptions of democracy – in 11 of 19 countries, less than half of those surveyed consider that the last elections were “free and fair.” That is, more than half express doubts about the cleanliness of the process. Among these are the United States, Romania, Taiwan or Colombia. “This particular survey cannot tell us with certainty what the reasons are, but we know from our other investigations that there are many things that contribute to diminishing faith in the elections,” such as doubts about the independence of electoral authorities or irregularities. in the voting stations, explains Seema Shah, head of the Democracy Evaluation Unit at International IDEA, in a telephone conversation from Stockholm.

The political scientist emphasizes that there are problems such as campaign financing or “fair coverage of the electoral landscape by the media” that “have not been sufficiently addressed for decades” and affect the perception of voters, which is He adds “that there are high-level political leaders who spread disinformation about the elections.” An example is Donald Trump's campaign on the alleged theft of the elections that he lost against Joe Biden in 2020. Among many Americans (47%) “there is general distrust in the elections because, even without evidence, there is a leader who sells these types of false statements.” And she highlights: “Misinformation has always been present. The problem now is that it is much easier to spread it to a large number of people and do it quickly. And I think that definitely has an impact.”

The report also points out the differences in the responses regarding the cleanliness of the elections depending on whether the respondent's party or candidate won, a divergence that stands out in countries such as Brazil (a distance of 37 points) or again the United States (47 points). In these cases, this level of partisan influence is related to the political speeches of Trump and former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro.

The countries most confident in their electoral systems are Denmark and Tanzania, with more than 70% positive responses. Pakistan is at the bottom, with less than 20%. In relation to the opinion of minorities, also analyzed in the report, although in most countries they distrust elections more than majority groups; In Brazil, Gambia and Italy, for example, the trend is the opposite, towards greater faith in these processes. In conclusion, Shah highlights that “people want to participate more in political processes around the world. "He wants more mechanisms to be able to participate and give his opinion."

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The survey also evaluates the perception of the judicial system. In 18 of the 19 countries, less than half of people surveyed (about 1,500 per country) believe that courts “always” or “often” provide access to justice. Only in Denmark does a positive perception predominate. Lithuania comes “a distant second, with only 34% of respondents believing that courts “always” or “often” provide access to justice. However, “countries as different as Italy, Lebanon, the United States and the Solomon Islands have similar levels of trust,” while Colombians are “notably negative” in this regard, with only 7.5%.

Differences around freedom of expression

Freedom of expression obtained better marks in the

Survey on the Perception of Democracy

, with a slight majority of respondents believing they can speak freely in almost all the countries analyzed, but with a perception equal to or below 50% in the United States. such as Brazil, Romania, Colombia, Senegal and Pakistan. Perception among minorities “differs significantly—sometimes better, sometimes worse—from that of majority populations.” In this section, attention is drawn to the negative evaluation of these groups (14 percentage points difference from the majority) in Denmark and Chile, and somewhat less so in Lithuania and Taiwan. “It should be noted that the minorities that feel more limited in relation to the majority population are found in some of the countries with the best and richest results” in the survey, highlights IDEA.

In relation to gender, differences in freedom of expression on sensitive topics are “clearly observable between men and women”, and “in almost all countries women feel less able to speak freely in public than men”, with a disparity “especially marked” in Iraq, Senegal and the Solomon Islands.

Another chapter of the report focuses on asking respondents whether or not they are favorable to the idea of ​​a “strong leader” who wants to act outside of parliaments and electoral results. The responses, IDEA points out, “make it clear that living in a strong democracy does not guarantee the rejection of non-democratic leaders.” In Denmark, a quarter of respondents have some degree of favorable sentiment on the matter. Only in six countries (Denmark, Colombia, Italy, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States) a majority declares “unfavorable feelings.” However, no country has a majority that is “extremely unfavorable” to non-democratic leaders. In the case of Gambia or Iraq, there are more respondents with a positive than negative view of a “strong leader” (in the second case, not so much because of a nostalgic memory of the Saddam Hussein era as because of the current instability in the country, says the report).

“For some people, it's attractive to have a leader who can just get things done quickly and not have to bother with institutions. And that's actually one of the ways that democracy is really threatened, because if you work with democratic institutions, it takes a lot longer to get agreement to get something going, whereas if you don't you have to deal with agreement and consensus. , You can do whatever you want. The most important point is that we have to remember that democracy or democratic institutions and leaders are not an obvious good for everyone,” highlights the IDEA expert.

Given the results regarding institutions and fundamental rights in democracy, “it is perhaps not surprising that citizens are more dissatisfied than satisfied” with their national governments in the majority of the countries analyzed. In 17 of the 19 countries, less than half of the population is happy with their government. Only in India (where Narendra Modi has high approval) and Tanzania is a majority, while in Romania and Lebanon, satisfaction is only around 9%, and does not reach 20% in Colombia or Italy.

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