From Sri Lanka To Tunisia: Democracy Under Threat

A scorpion wants to cross the stream and asks a frog to carry it across. The frog hesitates because it is afraid the scorpion will sting it. The scorpion argues that if it does so both would drown. The frog then agrees and starts swimming while carrying the scorpion on its back. Mid-stream, the scorpion stings the frog. The dying frog asks the ungrateful stranger why he did so knowing well both would die. The scorpion replies: “I couldn’t help it. It’s in my nature.”

- Ameen Izzadeen

This Russian or Persian fable well describes the unpleasant nature of the power-packed executive presidency, with democracy being depicted by the ill-fated frog. If the frog had worn protective armor, it could have saved itself. Similarly, for a democracy to survive, it needs to protect itself from excessive powers of the executive branch the government. Theoretically speaking, not only the executive presidency but also the other two government arms – the legislature and the judiciary – can be antidemocratic if proper checks and balances are not in place.

Just as the scorpion, executive presidents are also unable to resist the temptation to undermine democracy. This happened in Sri Lanka in October 2018 and in Tunisia only last week. In between, to varying degrees, executive presidents and prime ministers have acted like scorpions and killed or undermined democracy. Of course, among the culprits was Donald Trump who cared no two hoots about democratic values which form the very fabric of the US constitution. He even refused to accept the people’s verdict at the November 2020 presidential election and enticed his hardline followers to launch an insurrection and storm the US Congress when it was about to confirm the election verdict.

While Trump was destroying democracy, it was no surprise that in many nations, populist leaders had no qualms over misusing the executive powers, with some demagogues saying they were doing so to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. In Hungary at the outset of the pandemic, the rightwing populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban removed the constitutional checks and passed legislation to rule by decree for an indefinite period, while silencing the media to boot.