Who holds supreme political authority in a democracy?

Question

Who holds supreme political authority in a democracy?

Answer 1

In a true democracy [rule by the people], the voters do. Democracy is unweildy with a huge number of voters, so modern democracies are representative democracies, or "republics," in which elected officials "rule" in between elections. In countries having true independent judicial branches, the supreme court of appeals holds supreme authority in deciding issues which are often political in some degree.

Answer 2

The people.  In a pure democracy, there is no governing body.  The people decide everything.

Answer 3

The answer is 'THE PEOPLE'. Unfortunately, when you listen to fools, the mob rules! Democracy is always degenerate because people vote to support their own motivated self interest or what the demagogue, lobbyist or PAC of the minute has convinced them is their motivated self interest and so is reduced to its lowest common denominator! Democracy is a necessarily degenerate form of government that inevitably reduces itself to the lowest common denominator ie. 'Mob Rule'. Our country was designed and intended as a Republic back in 1787and it is the residue of that Republic that has allowed us to last this long....

Answer 4

It depends on the kind of democracy.

In a representative democracy it the representatives for the people. In  a direct democracy, it's the people themselves.

Answer 5

president.

Answer 6

Different answers for different countries, for appropriate answer s plz search about the constitution of that country somerwhere the prime minister holds the power and somewhere the president holds that power.

Answer 7

It's interesting to see how every answer so far is different.  I think it shows partly why our democracy isn't working so well at present.

In a democracy the people hold supreme political authority. The Constitution is the supreme 'law of the land', and the people can change it if they want to badly enough (and it's designed on purpose to be hard to change).  The representatives make laws, ratify treaties, etc., but they are chosen by the people and are supposed to be doing the work of the people.

'Democracy' means 'rule by the people'.  'Demos' is the root, an ancient Greek word for -the people-.

Answer 8

In the US, it is the US Supreme Court Justices.

Answer 9

The better question is "what."  The answer is the Constitution protected by three, CO-EQUAL branches of government: The Executive, the Legislative, and the Judicial.