Features of a democratic government

”Democracy is the road to socialism" Karl Max

"A government afraid of its citizens is a Democracy. Citizens afraid of government is tyranny!"

Thomas Jefferson

Democracy is a system of government widely known in the world today. It's a system of government in which all qualified adult citizens by law share the supreme power directly or through their elected representatives. According to Abraham Lincoln, it's the government of the people, by the people and for the people. Democracy start with the citizens and end with them. But can a country operate wholly on democratic principles. Some believed that there can't be 100 percent democratic rule in a particular state or country, there will always be some hinges too. Democracy is literally divided into two; direct and indirect democracy. Direct democracy occur when all the citizens attend the assembly and take part in political decisions in order to govern the state, indirect democracy on the other hand is one in which the citizens through election, select those who will represent and govern the state on their behalf. Those elected serve as proxy for the people.

Let us look at some of the features or what makes a country democratic.

1. Regular and periodic election. A democratic rule will always exhibit this feature. That is, there will always be a definite period of time to conduct elections as it may be entrenched in the Constitution. Some elect their leaders into offices every four or five years intervals. Elections play a great role in democratic government as it's the avenue for the electorates to choose for themselves the leaders and representatives they want into power. For example, Nigeria conducts elections every four years.

2. Equality before the law.

Democratic system of government is different from military system of government. The law supercedes all in democracy. The law is no respecter of anybody. Both the president and the equal man are all the same in the eyes of law. But is this feature still applicable today, many leaders get away with atrocities that an ordinary man cannot escape.

3. Existence of party systems. Either multi party or two party system, there must definitely be an existence of party system in a democratic government. People of the same Political interests gather together to form parties for the purpose of contesting and gaining political power. Different parties system enables people to pick from numerous alternatives the right leader to rule them.

4. Free and fair elections. Elections must be fair and free in a democratic system of government. There should be transparency during elections. People should not be coerced or forced to vote for people they have no interest in. Elections must be "free", it should be done under duress. A fair election is one that is not manipulated by election officials. It should be fair and transparent enough for people to see how it is been run.

5. There should be free press. Press are needed to work with fear of anybody. They are informants of the people and nobody should intimidate them in the course of carrying out their duties. Too bad many of the press are being influenced negatively by people in position of power to speak good of them always, even if they are bad.

6. Another feature of a democratic rule is the guarantee of the fundamental human rights. Rights of the citizens cannot be trampled on in a democratic environment. Everyone should be allowed of their rights as true citizens of the country. Rights like freedom of speech, movement. etc must be exercised and be guaranteed.

There are other numerous features of democratic government like Independence of the judiciary, application of the principle of separation of powers and so on. Democracy in its real sense will bring peace and progress to a nation, unfortunately even in a democratic state not all these features are applied, the government do things as they like and in most cases hide their ugly side from the public. Nevertheless democracy can be the best for the people if all its principles are duly observed and followed.