In a democracy, all citizens need to be informed and pay attention to what their representatives are doing. If they don’t, the representatives might make bad decisions and the system will not work. If people don’t care about voting at all, there will be no way to replace bad representatives. This is why democratic accountability requires civic participation.

Participation is the most important role of citizens in a democracy. It is not only their right, but it is also their responsibility. Citizen participation may take many forms including voting in elections, becoming informed, debating issues, volunteering in your community, paying taxes and even protesting. Civic participation is important for several reasons, including:

• Participation means that citizens take an active role in politics. This includes the participation of men and women, old and young, minorities and vulnerable groups in society. It gives citizens the chance to make their voices heard and helps to prevent minorities from being marginalized.

• If citizens do not know what their representatives are doing, they will not be able to make good choices about their leaders. This also means that citizens need to understand the issues that are facing their community. This helps them to understand the solutions representatives are suggesting.

• If citizens do not participate, the government will not care about the needs of the people. This is why citizens need to actively take part in decision-making and holding their representatives to account.

• Participation includes forming citizen’s groups that make sure that representatives are accountable between elections. This makes sure democracy works all the time, not just when an election is happening.
Democratic government cannot work without the participation of its citizens. Democracy is a partnership between a government and its citizens. Both must be active to keep the democracy healthy. A strong democracy requires its citizens to be informed, active and responsible so that they can effectively take part in democratic decision making.
Participation can mean that citizens support and work together with the government. It also means pointing out the government’s mistakes and suggesting alternatives to ideas, policies and actions that they disagree with (for example via influencing programmes of political parties).

Both are important forms of civic participation.Participation can be seen in:
1. A high number of people who vote in elections.

2. A high number of citizens are aware of and interested in issues affecting their community.
3. A high number of citizens who understand how the government works and pay attention to the actions of the government.
4. A high number of citizens who are members or volunteer with political parties, NGOs, faith-based organisations and community based organizations.

Political parties and participation

Representative democracy creates an opportunity for groups and individuals to have a voice in government, even if they cannot participate in government directly.

However, the existence of representative institutions alone is not enough for meaningful democracy. It is necessary to create links between society’s numerous and diverse policy preferences and the leaders and representatives who govern.

This link requires actors to mediate between citizens and state institutions. Political parties perform this intermediary function in three important ways:

1. Political parties offer ways to aggregate, articulate and mobilize social interests and preferences. Well-organized parties are continuously in touch with their members and other citizens, not only during election periods. They listen to citizens’ needs, mediate between different opinions, and give citizens a voice in representative institutions. While it is certainly the case that not all parties fulfil this function equally well in all democracies, without parties this function would be greatly weakened.

2. Parties offer all citizens greater opportunities for active political participation. Parties provide the organizational infrastructure that make it more likely that any citizen will be able to stand for election. In the absence of this party infrastructure, it is more likely that only wealthy and influential individuals will be able to afford to campaign effectively. In democratically structured parties, all members have a chance to influence the political program and to select candidates.
3. Political parties contribute to the formation of public opinion, and disseminate political information based on which public opinion can be formed. When it comes to elections, citizens often cannot form an opinion on every single issue and on every single candidate. Party programs and party labels simplify this electoral choice.(Riegner and Stacey 2014:8)