QoG code: vdem_edcomp_thick
Electoral component index
Question: To what extent is the electoral principle of democracy achieved?
Clarifications: The electoral principle of democracy seeks to achieve responsiveness and accountability between leaders and citizens through the mechanism of competitive elections. This is presumed to be achieved when suffrage is extensive; political and civil society organizations can operate freely; elections are clean and not marred by fraud or systematic irregularities; and the chief executive of a country is selected directly or indirectly through elections.
Aggregation: The electoral component index is operationalized as a chain defined by its weakest link of freedom of association, suffrage, clean elections, and elected executive.
| Dataset | No. Countries |
|---|---|
| Standard cross-section | 172 |
| Standard time-series | 175 |
| OECD cross-section | 32 |
| OECD time-series | 32 |
| Dataset | Available for years |
|---|---|
| Standard time-series | 1946-2024 |
| OECD time-series | 1946-2024 |
This variable has information from 1946 to 2024.