The European Center for Populism Studies defines flawed democracies as nations where elections are fair and basic civil liberties are honored but may have issues, ranging from media freedom infringement and minor suppression of political opposition and critics. These nations have significant faults in democratic aspects including underdeveloped political culture, low levels of participation in politics and issues in the functioning of governance.
With that being said, would you consider Malaysia to be a flawed democracy?
Because according to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s (EIU’s) Democracy Index 2022, Malaysia is listed under the ‘flawed democracy’ category after scoring 7.30 on the index and fallen one spot to number 40 as compared to the year before.
The index scores countries based on 5 benchmarks:
- Electoral process and pluralism (a state of society in which members of diverse ethnic, racial, religious, or social groups maintain and develop their traditional culture or special interest within the confines of a common civilization)
- Functioning of government
- Political participation
- Political culture
- Civil liberties
 Based on these benchmarks, on a scale of 1 to 10, Malaysia scored:Â
- 9.58 for Electoral process and pluralism
- 7.86 for Functioning of government
- 7.22 for Political participation
- 6.25 for Political culture
- 5.59 for Civil liberties
With the new Unity Government only in office for about 2 months now, hopefully they’ll work towards improving the political climate in Malaysia and our Democracy Index for this year.
Do you agree with Malaysia’s scores? Do feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section.
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