PARIS, September 17 (RIA Novosti's Andrei Nizamutdinov) - Election arrangements are not an only yardstick for democracy, said Antoine de Fond-Reau, editor-in-chief of the Revue parlementaire, influential French-based magazine. Novosti interviewed him on Russia's prospects to introduce proportional representation in parliamentary elections.
As the prominent political expert pointed out, basic principles underlying election systems vary from country to country all over Europe. There are majority, proportional and mixed patterns. One thing brings them together-all express the voters' will. So it isn't worthwhile to proceed from election arrangements while judging to what an extent a particular country is democratic.
There are a great many criteria for an election-its freedom, freedom of the press, multipartisan participation or pluralism, equal access of all hopefuls to media outlets, and open debates. These and many other features taken all together offer a reliable judgment on the extent of democracy.
