South Africa Drops 2 Places on Democracy Index

Johannesburg – South Africa dropped two places in its ranking on The Economist’s latest democracy index.

The country, classified as a “flawed democracy” now ranks 39.

A flawed democracy is a country with free and fair elections. Even if there are problems, basic civil liberties are respected. Weaknesses include problems in governance, underdeveloped political culture and low levels of political participation, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

This is the ninth edition of the Democracy Index. The latest report titled Revenge of the “deplorables” is a reflection of the popular revolt against political elites. This was witnessed in 2016 with the UKs vote to leave the European Union (EU) and the election of Donald Trump as US president.

The index looks at 165 states. The overall score is based on scores for five categories, these being electoral process and pluralism; civil liberties; the functioning of government; political participation; and political culture.

South Africa’s overall score in 2015 was 7.56. This dropped to 7.41 in 2016.

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