The Spanish state starts a year full of electoral events with bad news, as the latest Global Index of Electoral Freedom (IMLE) shows how it is falling back in the world ranking. As stated in a press release by the Foundation for the Advancement of Freedom, Spain has obtained "a mediocre result" in its democracy score in 2022. Specifically, the Spanish state has fallen two hundredths of a point from the previous year, which has caused it to drop from 38th to 47th place in the list of democracies in the world.
One of the reasons why the Spanish state has fallen down the list is not due to its own actions. That is to say, the improvement of democratic standards in other countries has caused them to climb positions, as is the case of states such as the Dominican Republic or Uruguay. Most of the states that have improved their democratic standards are in Latin America and some in the Pacific islands. On the other hand, Finland is once again at the top of the ranking, followed by Iceland, Ireland, Switzerland and Denmark.
However, the stagnation of democratic improvements in the Spanish state has dragged it down to a worse score. It is not the only Western democracy to find itself with a mediocre result. For example, the United States ranks 41st on the list. Worse is the case of Germany, which has fallen behind the Spanish state, and is now in 48th place. Another European Union (EU) country in a similar situation is Belgium, in 50th place. Although all these countries are in the range considered to have "high" electoral freedom, they are still "mediocre" results.
The Spanish electoral system: little room for change
According to the Foundation for the Advancement of Freedom, the Spanish electoral system is "correct in almost all aspects, but without reaching levels of excellence in any of these". It is therefore good, but not good enough. The report notes that the Spanish state has ample room for improvement with regard to passive suffrage. It also criticizes how the Spanish electoral system favours larger parties over smaller ones.
The rigidity of the D'Hondt system is also criticized. "Only Greece (77th and last place in the EU) presents a greater disproportion in arbitrarily assigning a quota of additional seats to the party with the most votes", the Foundation points out in its communiqué. Finally, it also underlines the blockage that closed lists represent for voters and their ability to decide, thus reinforcing particracy.