STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Half of the world's countries are suffering democratic decline, ranging from flawed elections to curtailed rights including freedoms of expression and assembly, an intergovernmental watchdog group said on Thursday.
"In short, democracy is still in trouble, stagnant at best, and declining in many places," IDEA Secretary-General Kevin Casas-Zamora said in the report.
IDEA bases its Global State of Democracy Indices on more than 100 variables and is using four main categories - Representation, Rights, Rule of Law and Participation - to categorise performance.
It also said Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia and Turkey had drifted away from the rest of Europe, performing well below the European average across most indicators of democracy.
However, the think-tank said there were some green shoots, with surprisingly high rates of political participation and decreasing levels of corruption, especially in Africa.
Persons:
Kevin Casas, Zamora, Johan Ahlander, Mark Heinrich
Organizations:
Institute for Democracy, Electoral, IDEA, Global State, Democracy, Law
Locations:
STOCKHOLM, Stockholm, Ukraine, Europe, Austria, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Russia, Turkey, Americas, El Salvador, Guatemala, Africa