ABSTRACT
The right to democracy as founded in Articles 21 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) and 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as interpreted by the Human Rights Committee is limited to the exercise of periodic free and fair elections. This procedural view cannot defend democracy against its ideologically intolerant enemies, where the lack of substance, defi ned as a number of mutually reinforcing rights, amounts to a loophole in the system. Therefore, in theory at least, intolerant actors could undoubtedly use elections as a means to reach power and abolish the democratic system.
