>>3
Not directly related to the news item, but...
There was an episode of Teen Titans that surprised me.
One of the protagonists said: "It's not because one can vote", or words to that effect. Meaning that I'll expand to: "It's not because one can vote that this country is a democracy, there is much more to it. The one who think that getting a country to vote makes it a democracy doesn't understand what is a democracy."
Teen Titans' version of the missing element was that compromises were needed, that there were various groups and they united despite their conflicts.
I think there is more to a democracy than that, but it's a start.