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Many countries include 'Democratic' or 'People's' in their names, even though they are not democratic and do not serve their people. Examples: Democratic People's Republic of Korea Lao People's Democratic Republic People's Democratic Republic of Algeria Democratic Republic of the Congo And German Democratic Republic (East Side) in 1949–1990. None of these states are democratic, power and wealth are concentrated in the hands of a small ruling elite. Who are they fooling with these names?
It is usually because whoever grabbed power in that place fooled the people to garner their support, telling them that they would actually become a democracy, socialist, or communist, and then, once they are in power, they mask off and never relinquish that power. Sometimes they may excuse that as a "transitional period" before moving on to the promised state. But those are obvious lies.
There are other reasons, tho, like confusing voters and muddying the waters so the people can't really know who is actually working for them, or just mockery, like the nazi.
This is why the way countries do elections is very wrong. Votes should not be for parties; they should be for policies and objectives. Then get in power people who claimed to aim for the same policies and objectives, and heavily punish them if they don't really work towards them once in power.
There's usually a populist factor that authoritarians use to seize power
Or they swoop in with rizz after the people's democratic revolution stumbles...