Formal and Real Democracy Democracy

CURRENTLY IN Peru has been preparing the second round of presidential elections which means the choice between candidates who took the top two spots, no more than 50% of the valid votes.

Both candidates, for their personal background handling the media, the behavior of most voters, they mean a great mystery, putting into question the very life of the republic, democracy, governance and citizen participation.

On the one hand, this daughter of a former President of the Republic and is currently struggling chain crimes and crimes against life and health of the citizens of theft of public money. Alternatively, this who is accused as akin the current President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. One and one do not guarantee the survival of democracy, governance and citizen participation in government (government) of the country, regions and cities.

Hence the importance of other concepts clarify its relationship with social development.

Democracy is not a pipe dream, not a chimera, and is now accepted as the most simple construction of a formal structure based on the mere existence of electoral schemes, traditionally valid and accepted, in which the people expressed at certain time (now five years) to elect their representatives and rulers.

We can not continue accepting or claiming there is a real democracy, effective and participative that there is an apparent division of public authorities (in the line established by the Resolution of France and the American Revolution of the eighteenth century), because we have an organ or branch executive, "controlled" by an organ and a p legislature or judiciary organ, independent of whether the supposed balance of powers, as well formally existed even in the worst time of Fujimori, a full expression of anti-democracy internally and externally, even by international organizations.

Even you can not (or should) justify democracy because it is approved, years ago, and political decentralization has advanced beyond the election of regional presidents (equivalent to the regional governors of provinces from other countries) or because the Belaunde government first turned to the popularly elected lacaldes, being that there is no real and effective democracy not with the powers necessary to be a gobernbilidad and popular participation.

A reason for this weakness, failure or structural failure and weakness of the economic system of society as a whole is that there is no perceived effectiveness, efficiency and effectiveness of robust and mature democracy, there is a respectable and respected state with a institutional development per se guarantee the lives and security of the Republic, without patronage circumstantial in providing public services, which are its obligation to give and receive the right of citizens to achieve a full and general welfare. In other words, democracy is not simply an expression of the Constitution or an act that is repeated every five years following a fanfare of publicity and expense of the candidates, some of whom happen to belong to the national folklore, regional and local levels. Democracy is much more than that to be true "government of the people, by the people for the people", this is real democracy, representative and full participation.

Carlos La Rosal Lama

Director of the Institute

Hector Cornejo Chavez