I've honestly wondered about this a lot because you always hear people say that democracy is the best system, but stuff like the Burundi election shows it can get messed up. When you have one party winning every seat and the opposition barely gets any votes, it doesn't feel like a real democracy, even if they had the vote.

In my experience watching news with my family, the main problem is that just having elections doesn't make a country democratic. People in power can still control things by threatening the opposition, not letting outside observers watch, and messing with the rules. Like in that recent Burundi vote, international groups said it looked peaceful, but the opposition said it was super unfair and that people got harassed for trying to challenge the main party.

It really makes you think: can you actually call that democracy, or is it just pretending to be one? In my opinion, democracy isn't just about voting, it's about having real choices and everyone being treated fairly. I think it's kind of scary how easy it is for those in power to make the whole thing look like democracy when it actually isn't. Makes me appreciate real competition and freedom even more.