Democracy in Decline

Even prior to the MPs expenses scandal the public were becoming disenchanted with politicians and, even, the electoral process itself. A YouGov poll in The Daily Telegraph on 28 April 2005 showed that 79% of people believed that most or all politicians habitually lied, and an earlier survey claimed that 85% of voters believed that politicians would say anything to get elected. (As reported by J Norman, et al, in the conservative publication Direct Democracy: An Agenda for a New Model Party.)

The graph above shows the percentage of the electorate that voted.

Interactive Democracy provides an additional system for holding politicians to account and balances their power by making democracy more democratic.