Why free and
fair elections are held
democracy
Answers
Answer:
Free and fair elections are the foundation of every healthy democracy, ensuring that government authority derives from the will of the people,” U.S. Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and former governor of Virginia James S. Gilmore III explained during the National Association of State Election Directors (NASED) Summer 2019 Conference in Austin, Texas. Gilmore further asserted that election observation is one of the best, most transparent ways to promote democracy and to hold countries to account when they fail to hold free and fair elections, and that the OSCE monitors provided the gold standard in this regard.
Among political scientists, the existence of free and fair elections on a regular basis is considered the minimal condition for a democracy (democratic regime) (Dahl 1971; Diamond 1999).