The National Democratic Institute is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to support and strengthen democratic institutions worldwide through citizen participation, openness and accountability in government.

You can’t have a democracy without elections, but that does not mean that all elections are democratic. Authoritarian regimes often use elections as a way to claim legitimacy, rather than to actually further democracy. Elections matter, says Foreign Policy’s Jeffrey Gedmin. He argues that Iran is an example of a country which claims to have a democratically elected government, even as its government uses tactics like monitoring the population, barring international media, and restricting access to the Internet and mobile phones to stifle protests.

Gedmin references a Journal of Democracy essay that suggests that the difference between democratic and authoritarian elections is that democratic elections have: “1) executives and legislatures selected through open, fair and free elections; 2) virtually all adults permitted to vote; 3) political rights and civil liberties, including freedom of press and freedom to criticize the government without fear of reprisal; and 4) elected authorities who are not subject to control by the military or clerical leaders.”