CAIRO - While elections and democracy are not theoretically synonymous, the two paradigms of political life are so much intertwined that neither of them could proceed independently. One time-tested assumption underlying relevant media and public debates the world over is that elections constitute a key path or a ‘password', to borrow from the jargon of our daily digital activity, for democracy. It is both interesting and significant that elections, be they parliamentary or presidential, have developed into a favourite recipe in, and inexhaustible source for, the news industry worldwide; and there must be some plausible reason or explanation for this observation. News stories on already-held, ongoing or forthcoming elections in the Middle East, South America, Europe and North and sub-Saharan Africa are abound and their political reverberations attract global audience, pointing inter alia to the apparently unchallenged emergence of democracy and democratisation as the political hallmark of the second decade of the 21st Century and probably for many decades to come. It follows that to remain ‘wired', ‘connected' or ‘tuned' to election stories as they break, develop or end has become an unavoidable concern for people 24/7. In each case, there has been some opposition with varying degrees to the results of elections, but that, in itself, is a distinguishing characteristic of pluralism. And the continuation in full swing of elections and democratisation, furthermore provides assuring signals that a growing number of societies of various cultural orientations are finally drawing the proper lessons from past experience with undemocratic policies and governance modalities. While the main beneficiaries from the now sweeping wave of democratisation are the societies directly involved, there seems to be some hope, however vague and distant it may look, for the democratisation wave to reflect upon international relations as a whole, given that, according to one school of political thought, all international politics are embedded in the very domestic policies of individual states. With elections as an inseparable component of democracy, accountability appears as a major factor in shaping the patterns of political behaviour; hence the notion that democracy and democratisation are conducive to the building of a fairer and safer world. And that is another plausible reason that explains why election stories are getting all the more fascinating to people everywhere.
