Elections in October
By: V-Dem Staff
Oct 03, 2016
Georgia and Afghanistan will have parliamentary elections on October 8th and 15th. The V-Dem on-line graphing tools allow us to examine the development of democracy in these countries. By graphing the V-Dem Electoral Democracy Index we can analyze to what extent rulers are responsive to citizens through elections. The index incorporates some of the fundamental ideals of democracy such as clean elections, extensive suffrage and freedom of expression. A higher value on this index indicates that a country is closer to achieving the ideal of electoral democracy.
In the graph we can see that the Electoral Democracy Index has increased for both countries since 1990. Afghanistan had a sharp increase after 2001, the year the Taliban government was overthrown, but has since remained on a modest level. Georgia has been on an upward trajectory since it achieved independence in 1991. It will be interesting to see if the upcoming parliamentary elections alter these current trends.
To find out more about the state of electoral democracy in Afghanistan and Georgia, or any other country, use the online analysis tool on V-Dem.net. By using the Drill-Down Feature you can also see the development of the different components of each index.
