One billion voters go to polls in most democratic month world has ever seen

More than a billion people are eligible to vote in a sudden flurry of national elections in some of the world's largest – and newest democracies.As well as the 800 million eligible to casts their ballot in India from 7 April, another 190 million have the right to vote in Indonesian elections on 9 April. In terms of size of electorate, India and Indonesia are the world's first and third largest democracies. The US is second.Twelve million Afghans are eligible to vote in presidential elections on 5 April, though less than a third have registered so far, while millions of Iraqis will be invited to cast ballots in a parliamentary poll on 30 April. Algeria will call on its 21 million voters to decide on 17 April about whether to give President Abdelaziz Bouteflika a fourth term. And smaller electorates in Hungary, Macedonia and Guinea-Bissau will also be able to exercise their democratic right next month.But there are buts. Not everyone will turn out, and India's elections continue into May, making it unlikely that the one billion vote figure will be reached. And also, as events in Ukraine, Thailand, Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina have recently shown, democracy is not just a matter of numbers, percentage and electoral maths. It is qualitative as well as quantitative.April will usher in the voters. But it is what the elected do thereafter that really matters.(theguardian.com)ANN.Az