PARIS — Emergency measures to curtail the coronavirus pandemic took tolls on democratic freedoms around the world last year, with setbacks in the West even as some Asian countries made progress, a report said Wednesday.
The annual “Democracy Index” published by the Economist Intelligence Unit found an erosion of personal rights in nearly 70 percent of the 167 countries analyzed.
France and Portugal in particular were downgraded to the rank of “flawed democracies” — in France’s case because of lockdowns and other restrictions on movement.
That pulled down its aggregate ranking on subjects including civil liberties, political participation, and functioning of government.
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Keep on reading: Covid responses chip away at democratic norms worldwide – study