Presented as part of this year’s Copenhagen Democracy Summit (in which Lumi Global took part), the 2025 edition of the Democracy Perceptions Index surveyed over 100,000 citizens across the world about how they perceived democracy in their own countries and abroad. In this edition of The Ballot, we break down some of the key findings from the report and what they mean for us.
Nearly the Entire World Agrees – Democracy is Important
The 2025 VDem Democracy Report – a related but distinct project reporting on the state of democracy worldwide – doesn’t beat around the bush when it reports that the “overall trend of worsening [of democratic backsliding], stands.” This isn’t particularly new, as we reported going into the “biggest election year in history” last year, but nonetheless worrying.
That aside, what the Democracy Perceptions Index reveals is that democracy is rated as either “extremely” or “very” important by a vast majority of those in surveyed countries. Even with the trends we’ve seen, faith in democratic elections as a means to solve our collective problems remains high, and it is therefore all the more critical for us to enable as many voters as possible to participatein democratic decision-making processes.
Transparency is High on the Public’s Agenda
We’ve said it before; we’ll say it again: sunlight is the best disinfectant. No matter the regime type, the DPI report states that it is a “widespread” belief that governments are not transparent enough. Going back to our blog poston why democracy is worth the fight, “a cornerstone of democratic governance is transparency,” and elections can’t be called “democratic” if they aren’t open to scrutiny.
If you took part in our webinar earlier this month, you learned about how no online election can be fully secure without being fully transparent. Why is that? Well, the simplest answer is this: there is no bigger threat to an election’s integrity than tampering which happens without anyone noticing it. If we aim to make our online elections as trustworthy as possible, we must take a cue from the public and only use election systems whose results can be fully verified.
Elections Matter, Even When Things Seem Bleak
What’s one vote? Well, if you ask those surveyed in the DPI report, it’s everything! Out of all countries surveyed, a robust majority answered that they believe elections do have an impact “in shaping political outcomes.” No matter whether a country was “democratic” or “authoritarian,” citizens almost uniformly agreed that elections play an important role in shaping our countries’ politics.
As we argued in our piece about democratic citizens,democracy is more than just elections. Yet, as those surveyed in the DPI indicated, elections can and do make a difference. In our decades of service, we have seen for ourselves the role democratic elections of all kinds play in creating stronger organizations with more engaged and trusting members. It is therefore our duty to make sure that they continue to receive the support they need to preserve democratic elections long into the future.
Power Should Always Be Distributed
Whether you term it “separation of powers,” “checks and balances,” or anything else, survey respondents indicated that this is something which is important but often lacking in their own countries. Naturally, if power is concentrated in one person, group, or entity, it is difficult to not only affect change democratically, but also nearly impossible to verify for yourself that any election results were not manipulated by said person or entity.
How might this relate to online voting? Well, we use the term “distributed trust” for a reason: any secure online voting system must not let any single administrator have the power to alter, delete, or otherwise prematurely reveal votes. By distributing partial decryption keys to administrators, along with giving observers and voters the tools the check an election’s integrity, fully verifiableonline voting systems can replicate the “checks and balances” which citizens around the globe recognize as crucial.
This article was originally posted as the May edition of Lumi Denmark’s monthly LinkedIn newsletter, The Ballot. To see older editions, subscribe, and stay up to date with what we’re up to, head to the homepage of The Ballot on LinkedIn here.
