In a democracy, politicians are accountable first and foremost to the citizens who elect them, though often the links are tenuous. First, the elections can be a rather distant and limited accountability mechanism, second, politicians elected under systems where citizens vote for party lists rather than individual representatives tend to be accountable first to their party leadership, and only secondarily to citizens, and, third, officials appointed to leadership positions by the government in power may feel they owe their allegiance to political decision-makers, with only a distant or diffuse sense of accountability to citizens.