Romania is among the countries that suffered from significant declines in the Liberal Democracy Index (LDI) over the past two years, according to the 2018 edition of Democracy for All?, the annual report drawn up by Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem).

The V-Dem Liberal Democracy Index assesses whether there are free and fair elections, whether leaders are constrained by the rule of law and oversight by parliament and the judiciary, and whether civil liberties are protected, Washington Post reported. The survey involves more than 3,000 scholars and other country experts, who are asked to evaluate the 178 countries included in the report.

Romania had an LDI of 0.61 in 2015, but it dropped to 0.49 in 2017, the V-Dem report shows. Brazil and Poland were the countries with the biggest declines in LDI over the last two years (-0.19), followed by Turkey (-0.16) and Croatia (-0.13). Romania and the United States come next with a decline of -0.12.

“Brazil, Croatia, Poland, and Romania are now at middling levels on the LDI after also suffering from significant declines over the last two years. In Poland, swift and far-reaching constitutional changes have reduced checks and balances, affecting in particular the judiciary. Similarly, the Romanian government has limited the rule of law and individual liberties – allegedly in order to curb corruption,” the report reads.

Romania ranks 60th in the top taking into account the Electoral Democracy Index (EDI) in 2017, after countries such as Burkina Faso and Botswana, 88th for the Liberal Component Index (LCI), 59th for the Egalitarian Component Index (ECI), 61st for the Participatory Component Index (PCI), and 142nd for the Deliberative Component Index (DCI).

The V-Dem study also says that Iran, Romania, Sri Lanka, and Turkey have also experienced severe declines in healthcare equality over the past ten years.

The full report is available here.

Freedom House report on democracy: 2017 was a turbulent year for Romania

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com