The Face of democracy is changing

By Robert Mutasi

Democracies in many countries are experiencing a significant shift, posing a great threat to their fundamental principals.

The main factor that is posing these challenges to democracy is political polarization. Political polarization is experiencing in some countries like the United States of America, Hungary, Brazil and Kenya which is causing division making people lack democratic institutions.

The effect of political polarization has an immense impact on democracy due to increased ideological differences between opposing parties. These ideologies threaten the stability of democracy.

In addition, it contributes to the amplification of misinformation that will in turn polarize society.

Rights and freedoms of many democratic countries are in danger since the government is not  granting power to its citizens to exercise.

Opposition  parties and human activists are being threatened while trying to advocate for justice, equal rights and  human rights.

Recently, countries like Kenya have been seen weakening the opposition side  thus  causing weakening  of checks and balances.

Democratic governments are using a lot of force to rule their people by exercising more power in their own hands. This exercise is against  the demand of the  Constitution of Kenya that everyone is supposed to obey it.

According to the Article 1 of the Constitution on Sovereignty of the people , all sovereign power belongs to the people of Kenya and shall be exercised only in accordance with this Constitution This is caused by several major factors that are still rising every day.

These are economic disparity, misinformation and social media. Misinformation is one of the major drivers that decrease  confidence in the political system  through disrupting the democratic process.

Misinformation campaigns  by  foreign  interference  have caused voting behavior in countries like the US. Economic disparities are also contributing to the fall of democracy.

This through lack of equality in income which interferes with democratic processes. Citizens maintain their trust in the government when they conclude that the political system is meeting  their demand.

Economic inequality may affect citizens' perceptions of the responsiveness of the political system which can  influence political processes Social media provides a platform where citizens use it to echo their views and sometimes spread false information rapidly.

Governments should overcome these challenges by providing civic education to their citizens which will strengthen democracy and transparent governance.