The main feature of a democracy is that the people have the power to elect their leaders. In this sense a democracy is rule by the people. The basic idea is that people rule themselves by participating in the making of these rules. In representative democracies people do not participate directly but, instead choose their representatives through an election process.

Another feature of a democracy is that Government is accountable to its people. If we are electing the leaders, hence it is the responsibilty of leaders to meet and make the decisions for the entire population.