If democracy is to survive, we will have to accept that it cannot be reduced to voting alone. Yes, the main strengths of elections are accountability and competency. However, their main weakness is that they are the source of political inequality and a systemic partisanship, which undermine an objective and impartial dialogue for the benefit of all, and not for a specific class represented by a particular party. Such a situation has gradually created the current crisis of democracy best exemplified by the spreading wave of populism. Citizens are becoming deeply disillusioned by being systematically manipulated by politicians of various provenance, using the power of the latest socio-psychological techniques applied by the mainstream and social media. That’s why elections and referenda must be invigorated with new ways in which citizens can participate, such as Citizens’ Assemblies. We have to think ‘out of the box’ and see that elections are only one of the tools of democracy see more here.
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