It’s been a frequent refrain from Democrats at this US Presidential election that “democracy is on the ballot”. But is another challenge for US democracy not just on the ballot, but how the votes will be counted?

Democracy in the United States is currently in a rather poor state, and polarisation amongst the Conservative and Democratic parties is a large part of the problem. There are three areas where this can be seen the most–the economy, immigration, and abortion.

We hosted a discussion entitled 'What next for UK democracy?' Joining us were Lord Newby, leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords, and Josiah Mortimer, chief reporter for Byline Times.

It’s an odd thought that someone bought the then leader of His Majesty’s opposition some trousers. The last time someone chose trousers for me it was my mum, in the 70s!

In France and now Germany, we are seeing the disturbing rise of far right political parties. But while those parties are getting a lot of headlines, they are not getting hands on power.

The Ministerial Code requires Ministers to publish a record of all their meetings with external organisations on a quarterly basis. In April this year, new guidance was issued on when and how this information should be published.

On International Day of Democracy, we reflect on the vital importance of democratic principles and the need to safeguard them both domestically and globally. However, the celebration of democracy is tempered by a global landscape increasingly fraught with challenges.

With businesses still boarded up, and the extensive damage caused far right rioters still visible in many of our towns and cities, now might not be considered the best time to assess the strength and relevance of Articles 19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights which guarantee the right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.

The next few weeks will be an acid test for the Starmer government: as they bring the rioting under control, will they honour the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, and restore our longstanding, traditional right to peaceful protest? 

The final round of the French elections took place on 7th July and it saw defeat for the far right National Rally. 

The UK General Election on 4th July 2024 saw one of the lowest turnouts in British democratic history, with less than 60% of registered voters turning up at polling stations to vote.

The polling industry should think again about constituency by constituency election projections

Earlier this month, Unlock Democracy’s survey which aimed to elucidate the complex relationship between voting behaviour and manifestos revealed arguably worrying findings regarding the influence of party manifestos on how the electorate cast their vote.

If British citizens living overseas are to have the right to vote, we must make sure that their votes are counted. We must demand reforms to the way overseas voters partake in elections.

If this week’s headlines are to be believed, the far right in France are heading for an election victory in the French General Election. They’re doing this despite winning barely a third of the vote and because of the First Past The Post voting system, that could be enough to win them power.

In this General Election, we’ve seen an explosion in websites and polling companies that claim to project results in individual Parliamentary Constituencies.

On Wednesday evening we hosted a discussion "Countdown to polling day: With Sir John Curtice". Sir John was joined by Hardeep Matharu, editor of Byline Times, and Maria Iacovou, Professor of Quantitative Sociology at the University of Cambridge. Our chair was Sangita Myska, journalist and TV presenter.

New findings by the National Centre for Social Research show that public trust in government and politicians is dropping further. 

Unlock Democracy believes it’s time the UK had an independent Debates Commission to organise leaders’ debates at General Elections.

Respect for our system of government culture has never been so low, nor politicians so distrusted, according to the latest report from the National Centre for Social Research. Yet the major parties have no plans for political reform, nor seem to understand the threat to cohesion - and to democracy itself.