The world is becoming more authoritarian as non-democratic regimes become even more brazen in their repression and many democratic governments suffer from backsliding by adopting their tactics of restricting free speech and weakening the rule of law, exacerbated by what threatens to become a “new normal” of Covid-19 restrictions. For the fifth consecutive year, the number of countries moving in an authoritarian direction exceeds the number of countries moving in a democratic direction. The report list Serbia in the countries that have ceased to be democracies in the past year, while Bulgaria and Montenegro has made it to the list of countries where successful elections were held and represent examples of the resilience of democracy. Read more here.
Source: International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance
