95% of population will prefer someone to tell them what to do.
It's difficult to think all time, it's quite easier to let someone think for you.
Well, according to one survey - only about 20% of Latvian population would want some kind of authoritarian leader.
People might not trust parties or politicians - but most of them agree that democracy is better than authoritarism or dictatorship.
So most debate here is about what kind of democracy we need and how existing system can be improved.
Thought that we should ditch democracy altogether and let some batka rule over us instead is not very popular here.

And of course - not everyone is expert in things like economy, finance, etc. - so yes people elect others that should be more competent in these fields and think for them.
And if they do badly - they can be replaced.
or simply ignored, how democrats prefer.
Look again at that picture - Latvijas Ceļš and Tautas partija chose to ignore it's voters - so they are not in charge anymore.
democratic leader who usually ignore their subjects completely once the election day is over.
And then next elections can be sooner than expected.
This summer we dissolved our parliament after it served less than a year. And will dissolve next too if they fuck up again.
United Russia will get their share of votes. Even if the elections were honest they would still get the majority. I'm practically sure about that. Alas, people are stupid.
Yes - many people are stupid -I agree with that.
But other thing - why parties like United Russia get majority is simple - there is no competition.
If legitimate opposition is suppressed and only clowns like Zhirinovsky are allowed to "compete", then sure as hell even party as shitty as United Russia can look good if it is next to clowns that are a lot worse.
If the only store in 1000 km radius sells only rotten fruits and half rotten fruits, then people of course will choose half rotten, to not die from starvation.
It does not mean that people are stupid if they eat half rotten - they have no other choice. (Of course they can try and kill owner of the store and break in his basement where fresh fruits are stored - and that would be a revolution)
If there appear fresh fruits, then people will choose them instead.

You had 8 parties, now you only have 5. In 20-30 years (your democracy is still very young) there will be only 1 or two left (if nothing major happens in the world).
I do not think that there will be only one. Political competition is essential. And one party simply cannot represent all people, because thay have different interests.
And one party cannot even represent people with common interests, because there are more than one way to achieve something.
And if two or more parties are competing, they are forced to find better solutions to problems than their competitors.

But the real problem with dictatorships is - once dictator is in charge - he will not leave peacefully.
When we dissolved parliament - they stepped down without resistance - no one was killed or harmed.
When people of Libya wanted Gaddafi to step down - he sent tanks to them instead and country went into complete chaos.
The same with Syria now.
I definately prefer first way of changing those in charge.

Here we have a choice between Valdis Dombrovskis, Valdis Zatlers, Aivars Lembergs, Raivis Dzintars, Нил Ушаков, Татьяна Жданoк and many others.
In Russia you have only Vlad the Eternal.
I do not think that in a country with 142 million people there really really are not anyone better than Putin.