Number of electoral democracies reaches 122 as freedom spreads
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Dec 20 8:49 AM US/Eastern
The number of electoral democracies around the world rose from 119 to 122 this year, setting a new record as freedom made inroads in the Middle East and Africa, an independent monitoring group said. But in its annual report rating every nation in the world as "free," "partly free" or "not free," Freedom House on Monday expressed concern about countries like the United States and France, where it saw "looming problems" with electoral setups and immigrant integration.
"These global findings are encouraging," said Arch Puddington, director of research at the organization.
"Among other things, the past year has been notable for terrorist violence, ethnic cleansing, civil conflict, catastrophic natural disasters, and geopolitical polarization," he added. "That freedom could thrive in this environment is impressive."
The three additions to the list of electoral democracies were the African nations of Burundi, Liberia and the Central African Republic.
The three countries afforded considerable space for political opposition and met the minimum standard of a fair vote count, the report said.
But the most significant improvements were noted in the Middle East, where Lebanon was upgraded from "not free" to "partly free," despite a series of political killings that shook the country.
The Lebanese witnessed major improvements in both political rights and civil liberties following the withdrawal of Syrian troops based in the country, the report said.
It also noted elections held in Iraq, Egypt, and the Palestinian territories, the introduction of women's suffrage in Kuwait, and improvements in Saudi Arabia's media environment among other encouraging signs in the region.
"This emerging trend reminds us that men and women in this region share the universal desire to live in free societies," commented Thomas Melia, acting executive director of Freedom House.
In a rare critique of the United States, the survey complained about what it called "the widespread use of sophisticated forms of gerrymandering," or redrawing of electoral districts, that the authors said has "reduced competitiveness in congressional and state legislative elections."
Just last week, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case dealing with redistricting in the state of Texas engineered by former House Republican majority leader Tom DeLay that allowed Republicans to pick up six more seats in the House of Representatives in the 2004 elections.
Meanwhile, several European countries, including France, faced challenges to their democratic institutions stemming from their failure to effectively integrate non-European immigrants, the report said.
Freedom House listed 89 countries as "free," meaning that 46 percent of the world's population now enjoy a climate of respect for civil liberties.
Another 58 countries were judged "partly free," while the number of countries considered "not free" declined from 49 in 2004 to 45 this year, the lowest number in over a decade.
Ukraine and Indonesia saw their ratings go up from "partly free" to "free" while Afghanistan, which inaugurated its new parliament Monday, moved from "not free" to "partly free." Also rising to the "partly free" ranking was Kyrgyzstan.
However, the Philippines suffered a set back as their status declined from "free" to "partly free."
The decision to downgrade the Philippines, the authors explained, was based on allegations of electoral fraud, corruption and government intimidation of opposition members that were found "credible."
Eight states in the "not free" category received the survey's lowest rating for political rights and civil liberties: Cuba, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Libya, Syria, Sudan and Burma.
More from PCIJ.
UPDATE: More from UPI:
"Of the four countries that registered an outright decline in status, the most significant was the Philippines," Freedom House notes. "The decision to downgrade this country from Free to Partly Free was based on credible allegations of massive electoral fraud, corruption, and the government's intimidation of elements in the political opposition."
Plus this from the Tribune:
GMA gets failing marks in freedom, democracy
Freedom House downgrades RP from 'free' to 'partly free' state
12/21/2005
Even as Malacañang claims President Arroyo won the elections “fair and square” and that the country is run by her under the rules of democracy, a prestigious and independent international group, Freedom House, which monitors the number of electoral democracies around the world, evidently does not agree with the Palace claims.
An Agence France Presse report, datelined Washington, yesterday said the international monitoring agency downgraded the country to a “partly free” from a “free” state, based on the independent group’s monitoring of the number of electoral democracies around the world.
Of the four countries that registered an outright decline in status, the most significant was the Philippines. The decision to downgrade this country from free to partly free was based on credible allegations of massive electoral fraud, corruption and the government's intimidation of elements in the political opposition.
Freedom House in its report also noted a rise in the number of democratic states from 119 to 122 this year.
In its annual report, Freedom House said every nation in the world was rated either as “free,” “partly free” or “not free.”
Freedom House was founded over 60 years ago by Eleanor Roosevelt, Wendell Willkie, and other Americans concerned with the mounting threats to peace and democracy.
Non-partisan and broad-based, Freedom House is led by a board of trustees composed of leading Democrats, Republicans, and independents; business and labor leaders; former senior government officials; scholars; writers; and journalists.
All are united in the view that American leadership in international affairs is essential to the causen of human rights and freedom.
Freedom House was an advocate of the Filipino democratic opposition in the 1980s.
With the downgrade, it appears that the international organization monitoring freedom and democracy all over the world did not deem the presidential polls in 2004 that Filipinos say was marked with massive fraud, as credible.
President Arroyo stands accused of having cheated her way to Malacañang through massive vote buying, as well as vote shaving and vote padding operations, as recorded in wiretapped conversations between her and a poll official, Comelec Commissioner Virgilio Garcillano,
Both denied they had rigged the elections to favor her candidacy.
The international monitoring agency also noted in its annual report that it found credible government “intimidation” of the opposition members...
Mrs. Arroyo has also curtailed the rights and freedoms of the citizenry, with her police and military breaking up the most peaceful demonstrations staged against her, with her calibrated preemptive response policy.
UPDATE: As expected, Malacanang cries foul over freedom downgrade
Mrs. Arroyo's spokesperson Ignacio Bunye fumes: Freedom House "out of touch" with reality raw!!!
UPDATE: I'd like to comment on this Bunye remark:
According to him, a trip to the Philippines will make the members of the agency “see for themselves how constitutional democracy works, how the media (work) and how the people freely express themselves,” he said.
Heh, ipinagbabawal na nga ng arroyo admin at mga allies nito ang pagho-hold ng GMA resign rallies sa kalsada ng makati, edsa at mendiola eh kahit na generally peaceful naman ang anti-GMA rallies (at hindi naman bawal dati ang mga anti-admin rallies sa mediola, edsa at makati during erap, fvr and cory's time.)
And with GMA's new internet censorship bill in the pipeline, our freedom marks will probably take another hit once the law being crafted by administration senators Bong Revilla and Manny Villar gets passed next year.
UPDATE: Related to internet censorship. We've already seen how the Administration and it's attack dogs are harassing PCIJ. I think it will only get worse.
More on this from The Belmont club.
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