The number of electoral democracies around the world rose from 119 to 122 this year, setting a new record as freedom made inroads in the Middle East and Africa, an independent monitoring group said. But in its annual report rating every nation in the world as "free," "partly free" or "not free," Freedom House on Monday expressed concern about countries like the United States and France, where it saw "looming problems" with electoral setups and immigrant integration.
"These global findings are encouraging," said Arch Puddington, director of research at the organization.
"Among other things, the past year has been notable for terrorist violence, ethnic cleansing, civil conflict, catastrophic natural disasters, and geopolitical polarization," he added. "That freedom could thrive in this environment is impressive."
The three additions to the list of electoral democracies were the African nations of Burundi, Liberia and the Central African Republic.
The three countries afforded considerable space for political opposition and met the minimum standard of a fair vote count, the report said.
But the most significant improvements were noted in the Middle East, where Lebanon was upgraded from "not free" to "partly free," despite a series of political killings that shook the country.
The Lebanese witnessed major improvements in both political rights and civil liberties following the withdrawal of Syrian troops based in the country, the report said.
It also noted elections held in Iraq, Egypt, and the Palestinian territories, the introduction of women's suffrage in Kuwait, and improvements in Saudi Arabia's media environment among other encouraging signs in the region.
"This emerging trend reminds us that men and women in this region share the universal desire to live in free societies," commented Thomas Melia, acting executive director of Freedom House.
In a rare critique of the United States, the survey complained about what it called "the widespread use of sophisticated forms of gerrymandering," or redrawing of electoral districts, that the authors said has "reduced competitiveness in congressional and state legislative elections."
Just last week, the US Supreme Court agreed to hear a case dealing with redistricting in the state of Texas engineered by former House Republican majority leader Tom DeLay that allowed Republicans to pick up six more seats in the House of Representatives in the 2004 elections.
Meanwhile, several European countries, including France, faced challenges to their democratic institutions stemming from their failure to effectively integrate non-European immigrants, the report said.
Freedom House listed 89 countries as "free," meaning that 46 percent of the world's population now enjoy a climate of respect for civil liberties.
Another 58 countries were judged "partly free," while the number of countries considered "not free" declined from 49 in 2004 to 45 this year, the lowest number in over a decade.
Ukraine and Indonesia saw their ratings go up from "partly free" to "free" while Afghanistan, which inaugurated its new parliament Monday, moved from "not free" to "partly free." Also rising to the "partly free" ranking was Kyrgyzstan.
However, the Philippines suffered a set back as their status declined from "free" to "partly free."
The decision to downgrade the Philippines, the authors explained, was based on allegations of electoral fraud, corruption and government intimidation of opposition members that were found "credible."
Eight states in the "not free" category received the survey's lowest rating for political rights and civil liberties: Cuba, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Libya, Syria, Sudan and Burma.
