POLITICS: Cyprus remains a ‘flawed democracy’

Cyprus is categorized as a “flawed democracy” by the Economist Intelligence Unit, rating it 35 out of 167 countries included in its Democracy Index issued for 2018.

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Scoring 7.59 out of 10, the same as last year Cyprus failed to move into the top group of democratic countries. The list includes 20 "complete democracies”, 55 “flawed democracies”, 39 “hybrid regimes” and 53 “Authoritarian regimes”.

From the countries of Western Europe, Cyprus occupies 19th position, with most countries considered complete democracies.

The list of flawed democracies also includes Greece, Italy, Portugal, France and Belgium.

The democracy index is an indicator that records the state of democracy in 167 countries. Findings are based on 60 indicators that measure electoral processes, pluralism, political freedoms, political culture, political participation and the functioning of the government.

Cyprus achieved its highest ratings for electoral processes and pluralism (9.17) and political freedoms (8.82) and the lowest for functioning of government (6.43) and political participation (6.67).

The most democratic country in the world is Norway with a score of 10 (9.87), followed by Iceland, Sweden, New Zealand and Denmark.

The ten most democratic countries also include Canada, Ireland, Finland, Australia and Switzerland.

Coming in last, as the most authoritarian regime in the world, is North Korea with a score of 1.67.

For the first time in three years, the global rating for democracy remained stable.

A total of 42 countries showed a decrease in their overall score compared to 2017, while 48 showed an increase in their overall score. However, proportionately fewer people lived in some form of democracy (47.7%, compared with 49.3% in 2017).