Illiberal practice as it has been defined here, reflects a feature within liberal democracy itself –democracy may coexist with different degrees of liberalism and vice versa. It is entirely possible that a country develop a system of free and fair elections political rights and at the same time limit a number of civil liberties like the freedom of speech, assembly, religion and the right to private property. And a political system may allow civil rights but still undermine the democratic process. Illiberal democracy presents a paradox in which it constitutes a persisting and pervasive reality. In essence, illiberal democracy combines aspects of democracy with autocracy for example the disregard of political and civil liberties (Zakaria, 1997).
