Slovenian President on current challenges to democracy

Geneva, Switzerland, 15.9.2008  |  press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, M. Danilo Türk participated today as a keynote speaker in a panel-discussion ''International Day of Democracy'' organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Union, on the occasion of the International day of democracy. In his speech, he defined democracy as a global phenomenon and as a principal feature of the global social change over the past thirty years. In President's words, no one can be doubtful of the democracy's transformational power; its practical aspects and, in particular, its support to elections have become a pertinent international cooperation component. He noted that democracy comes from within and can therefore not be imposed from the outside; however, it can be given assistance at the international level. At the same time, democracy is a very dynamic process where friction occurs between different democracy ingredients, added the Slovenian President. In continuation, M. Türk summarized the main democracy challenges of today.

The Slovenian President pointed out that democracy is a value in itself. However, he warned that it should not only stick to procedures but that it should result in practical effects, as well. This fact is important for the developing societies for which suitable criteria of success are represented by the millennium development goals. Democracies are dependent on the rule of law and are to contain efficient anti-corruption mechanisms, said President Türk. In his view, negative impact of corruption should not be underestimated and said that combating corruption phenomena was one of the key tests to secure effectiveness of democracy. In his opinion, another great risk for democracy were threats to security such as terrorism, but at the same time he stressed that such threats should not be countered by diminishing human rights standards, i.e. by jeopardizing democracy itself. Another important aspect highlighted by the Slovenian President was that of democratic institutions versus the countries involved in armed conflicts. The former function as an important pillar of stability and represent an obstacle to possible relapses into armed conflicts. The President pointed out that in planning and developing new democratic institutions, as well as regarding support to elections, appropriate timing plays an essential role.

At the end of his speech, President Türk mentioned the phenomenon of the overriding media domination in developed democracies which waters down the importance of programmatically and ideologically defined political parties. In a society dominated by media, information is constantly being combined with entertainment. It is therefore important that democracies take account of this fact and try to find ways of presenting truly substantial issues to their electorate, concluded M. Türk.

Later in the afternoon, President Türk is to meet the new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms Navanethem Pillay, as well as the Slovenes who live and work in Geneva.