Democracy at play

Sir, – In the article “Aided by von der Leyen, Orbán has made a mockery of the values the EU is meant to uphold” (Opinion, December 16th), sociology professor John O’Brennan notes that 2024 is “looming as a particularly frightening year for democracy”.

His argument seems to be that a certain person in the United States and certain parties in the EU are on course to win elections next year. Now my understanding of a democracy is that the people decide who their elected representatives will be – which is exactly what will happen in these countries.

If Prof O’Brennan is worried about people he doesn’t like being put in power by the electorate, he should examine the drivers for the increased popularity of these candidates, rather than dismissing the will of the people as scary for democracy. – Yours, etc,

NIALL SCANLON,

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Co Wicklow.