Democracy, human rights, and the rule of law are the three pillars of the European constitutional heritage. Democracy is a form of government in which the sovereign power resides in and is exercised by the whole body of free citizens directly or indirectly through a system of representation, as distinguished from a monarchy, aristocracy, or oligarchy. Democracy is inconceivable without elections held in accordance with certain principles that lend them their democratic status. These principles comprise two aspects, the first, the hard core, being the constitutional principles of electoral law such as universal, equal, free, secret, and direct suffrage, and the second the principle that truly democratic elections can only be held if certain basic conditions of a democratic state based on the rule of law, such as fundamental rights, stability of electoral law, and effective procedural guarantees, are met.