Celebrating local democracy across the Commonwealth

Dr Greg Munro, CLGF Secretary-General

15 September 2016

There is an old joke that “in democracy it is your vote that counts, but in feudalism it is your count that votes!” Today, on the International Day of Democracy, we need to remember that the transition from feudalistic and other non-participatory forms of governance to democracy is a relatively recent phenomenon in the Commonwealth. Women in the UK were granted the right to vote in 1928, and young people aged 18-21 years only in 1969. In many of our Commonwealth nations, democratic systems were only established in the 1960s. In my own country, South Africa, where I grew up witnessing the hardship and suffering of people within an unjust system, a fully democratic state was only created in 1994.

While we often talk about the system of democracy and universal suffrage, we need to remember that it is at a local government level where democracy is mostly keenly felt (or missed). It is at a local level of governance where the rubber of the tyre of democracy hits the road of our communities. It is at the local level that men and women can have a meaningful say in the delivery of their community services and can influence decisions which impact directly upon them.

There are still challenges in implementing a fully functional democratic system in many countries and we need to continue and indeed accelerate our support in those countries to overcome these challenges and obstacles. Supporting this capacity at local government level is at the core of our work at the Commonwealth Local Government Forum.

On the International Day of Democracy, we need to remember those who lost their lives in their quest for democracy and freedom – people like Emily Davison, Stephen Biko, Ruth First, Martin Luther King and countless numbers of ordinary men and women. Let us celebrate democracy today but also remember and acknowledge those men and women who lost their voice so that we could have ours.