Saturday, September 15, 2018

Why Democracy does not mean Govt elected by the 'Majority'

Someone asserted that "democracy means govt elected by the 'majority' people". I think it is an unfair assertion and democracy is seldom seen to be so. 

The religious, linguistic or ethnic "majority" people's votes also get divided because of "multi-party system". If one political party tries to appeal to them in order to consolidate their votes; several other political parties also rush to complete with it and hence votes get divided among these parties. Hence the so called "majority" group could never vote as one unit for only one party. And hence govt in a multi-party democracy does not represent only the majority people's opinion. 

On the other hand, it is the "minority" people who are seen to be showing totally "undemocratic" traits. Since they are less in numbers, they are easy to consolidate and often they are more centrally controlled/influenced. The minority people seldom show "individualistic" traits using their own minds but often vote as herds; running on "fear psychology". 

Bottom-line: Democracy is more complex than "a govt elected by the majority".


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