"Democracy is not only the right to vote, it is the right to know what is happening in the country"

Ballots alone do not make a democracy; citizens must have access to timely, truthful, and comprehensive information about public affairs. Voting expresses preference, but knowledge shapes preference, calibrates expectations, and disciplines those who wield power. The consent of the governed is meaningful only when it is informed, and the legitimacy of institutions rests on their willingness to be seen and understood.

A genuine right to know is more than passive transparency. It requires proactive disclosure of budgets, contracts, lobbying, surveillance practices, and the reasoning behind policies. It depends on independent journalism, protected whistleblowers, open archives, accessible court records, and freedom of information laws with real teeth. It is reinforced by checks and balances, auditors, ombuds offices, parliamentary inquiries, along with opposition rights that ensure debate is not ceremonial. When officials anticipate scrutiny, they plan, spend, and justify decisions differently; accountability becomes habitual rather than episodic.

Citizens also carry responsibilities. The right to know implies a duty to seek out sources, to compare claims, to ask for evidence, and to participate beyond election day, through town halls, civic monitoring, and public comment. Civic education equips people to interpret complex data, resist manipulation, and distinguish secrecy justified by narrowly defined security needs from secrecy that shields incompetence or corruption. The right must be universal: information presented in plain language, across languages and formats, accessible to people with disabilities and those without digital access.

The digital sphere adds urgency. Platforms and algorithms shape what people see; their opacity can distort public understanding as surely as censorship. Transparent content rules, data access for independent researchers, and protections against state and private disinformation are now part of the democratic infrastructure. Privacy and transparency must be balanced, but not traded off casually.

Without the right to know, voting risks becoming ritual. With it, self-government becomes a daily practice, deliberative, corrective, and resilient.