Investigations into the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election continued throughout the year, leading to hundreds of new convictions linked to the January 2021 attack on the Capitol, in which supporters of then president Donald Trump violently disrupted congressional certification of Joseph Biden’s victory.

The constitution identifies the PCC as the “superior driving force of society and the state.” All other political parties are illegal. Political dissent is a punishable offense, and dissidents are systematically harassed, detained, physically assaulted, and imprisoned for minor infractions.

Power in Russia’s authoritarian political system is concentrated in the hands of President Vladimir Putin. With subservient courts and security forces, a controlled media environment, and a legislature consisting of a ruling party and pliable opposition factions, the Kremlin manipulates elections and suppresses genuine opposition.

North Korea is a one-party state led by a dynastic totalitarian dictatorship that regularly engages in grave human rights abuses. Surveillance is pervasive, arbitrary arrests and detention are common, and punishments for political offenses are severe.

Japan is a multiparty parliamentary democracy. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has governed almost continuously since 1955. Political rights and civil liberties are generally well respected.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP), which have ruled Turkey since 2002, have become increasingly authoritarian in recent years, consolidating significant power through constitutional changes and by imprisoning opponents and critics.

In February, legislators selected 15 Supreme Court justices who will serve until 2030. A nominating body had offered a merit-based list of candidates to the National Congress in January, but legislators selected justices from that list on a partisan basis.

The transition beginning in 2018 initially brought progressive political reforms, but crackdowns in 2020—first after the assassination of Oromo musician Hachalu Hundessa and then after the beginning of the conflict in Tigray later that year—harmed political pluralism.

The president is both head of state and head of government and is directly elected to a single six-year term. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. won the May 2022 presidential election with 58 percent of the vote, defeating outgoing vice president Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo, a progressive candidate and democracy activist.

2024年8月12日 · Freedom House has been a source of expertise on the state of global freedom and democratic trends since the Second World War. We have been tracking freedom around the world for more than 50 years, identifying emergent threats and, for the last 18 years, documenting the trend of ongoing decline in people’s access to political rights and civil liberties.