Democracy Index 2023: Bangladesh down 2 notches

In 2006 Bangladesh was a flawed democracy and since 2008 Bangladesh government is a hybrid regime, according to the findings of Democracy Index 2023 released yesterday by the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Bangladesh slipped down two notches, from 73 to 75, since its previous report was released in 2022.

"Eight of the 10 most populous countries in the world—Bangladesh, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Russia and the US—are holding nationwide elections in 2024. In half of these, elections are neither free nor fair and many other prerequisites of democracy, such as freedom of speech and association, are absent," says the report.

"Unsurprisingly, elections in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Russia—where opposition forces are subject to state repression—will not bring regime change or more democracy," it adds.

From 2008 onwards, Bangladesh has been classified as a hybrid regime by the index.

Each country is classified by the index as one of four types of regime: "full democracy", "flawed democracy", "hybrid regime" or "authoritarian regime".

The countries are judged based on their electoral process and pluralism in politics, how their government functions, on political participation, political culture, and on the extent of civil liberties.

Bangladesh's lowest score was in the category of civil liberties, followed by political participation. Its highest score was in the category of electoral process.

The index also judges whether national elections are free and fair, assesses the security of voters, the level of influence of foreign powers on government and the capability of the civil service to implement policies.

A hybrid regime is defined as one where "elections have substantial irregularities that often prevent them from being both free and fair. Government pressure on opposition parties and candidates may be common. Serious weaknesses are more prevalent than in flawed democracies—in political culture, functioning of government and political participation. Corruption tends to be widespread and the rule of law is weak. Civil society is weak. Typically, there is harassment of and pressure on journalists, and the judiciary is not independent."

The index says, "South Asia and Southeast Asia already had the lowest scores of all the continent's sub-regions, and setbacks in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand mean that the two regions have fallen even further behind."

Pakistan has nosedived in the index, and is now being considered an authoritarian regime. Both Bhutan and Nepal's score is lower than that of Bangladesh, while Sri Lanka scored higher, and is considered a flawed democracy.

Afghanistan ranked the worst, being classified as the worst authoritarian regime in the world, while Myanmar is the second-worst. Myanmar is worse than North Korea.

According to the index, both the US and India are flawed democracies, while Canada, Norway, Finland and Sweden are full democracies.