According to Article 3 of the Inter-American Democratic Charter of the OAS, the essential elements of representative democracy include, inter alia, ‘respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, access to and the exercise of power in accordance with the rule of law, the holding of periodic, free, and fair elections based on secret balloting and universal suffrage as an expression of the sovereignty of the people, the pluralistic system of political parties and organizations, and the separation of powers and independence of the branches of government’.